Shovels and Snow Tires

Isn’t it amazing how the first day of fall hits and automatically the temperatures drop about five degrees per day; it’s cloudy and all “falley” looking outside, I mean it’s like a literal switch was flipped.  I’m sure there’s some kind of quirky “cold front” that came through – as if THAT’S a real thing here in Florida, but the timing is unreal just the same.

Either way, it’s a nice change of scenery and temperature, because last night as I sat out on my glider at 5:15, I wasn’t choking to death from the heat. There was a nice cool breeze, and as I sat there I was wondering what the temperature actually was, so I checked the weather app on my phone and it was only 81 degrees!

What a remarkable difference, because just last Sunday I was sitting in that same spot about the same time and I was about to burst into flames it was so hot. I was talking on the phone with my oldest son who lives in Vermont now, and as I was listening to him talk about their weather changes, I felt as if I was melting away in my seat, and dripping onto the porch creating a puddle of liquefied human.

He was saying how cool the nights in Vermont are now – like 55 degrees every night and that the days are about to start cooling down as well to a low of the 70 degree range. That particular day in Quincy Florida it was still 91 degrees at 5:30 and as I listened to him drift into conversation about the winters in Vermont, my gator fan was blowing on high behind me, so the roar was pretty loud, but I could have sworn I heard him say something about snow tires?

This year will be quite the test for him living out a winter in Vermont, the temperature highs some days are near zero or below, the snow can be crazy and yes, he may have to purchase snow tires at some point. He knows that to be able to go to work, shoveling drive-ways is a reality in his future. He is also a Georgia/Florida native so all of those things are going to be quite the change for him.

But he’s also about to see one of the most magnificent fall-changing-color-seasons he will have ever seen in his life. Every day now he wakes-up to mountains right outside his bedroom window. His desk is also facing that same window, so that when he writes, he always has the most peaceful and beautiful scenes one could imagine.

In another week or so the leaves will begin to change there and the menagerie of colors will be nothing short of breath-taking. People from around these parts drive hours and hours, spending money on hotel reservations just to see a glimpse of that beauty for a few days. To have it all right at your finger-tips – well one would have to wonder if those sights of natural beauty would ever get old? I am surely thinking not.