Indian Summer

Today is the 6th of October and the weather man has given us a rare gift. It is 27 degrees C today. It is hot and humid and so sunny you can't spot a cloud. It's been like this since last Saturday, when we sat outside on the porch in the country, absolutley amazed at the heat of the October sun and wishing we'd thought to bring t-shirts. The trees on the mountains were changing colours in the blink of an eye, but here we were as if it were the middle of August. It's odd and a bit unsettling, this Indian Summer business, but I'm hanging on to every last bit of it.

It's all supposed to end tonight, broken apart by a weekend of rain. But I don't want to believe it. I don't. Because after the rain comes more rain, and then colder rain, until one day you look out the window and squint really hard only to realize it's not rain any more. Suddenly the cold, wet slop has given up completely and the snow is here to stay. And not just pretty Holiday snow! Six bloody long months of snow, melting snow, sideways-blowing snow, snowstorms, slush, hail, snow in your boots, snow down your neck, snow on the carpet, snow on the floor, and finally melted snow soaked up into your socks.

So tonight I'm going to take advantage of this small unexpected gift. It can rain all it wants tomorrow. It's been a long, lovely summer.