Sad and SAD

Today my niece Sue wrote in her blog here, "Autumn breaks my heart... ...because it is over all too soon."

I certainly agree with her. I feel sad because of the death of summer's rich beauty. I feel sad that the loveliness of fall is so very brief. I feel sad that the daylight hours are growing shorter and shorter. I feel sad that it will be a minimum of seven months before the life of spring returns. 

Winter has its own beauty, but I tend to experience a degree of SAD, that (for me) seasonal low underlying degree of depression that develops as the days grow shorter and darker, with the sun moving so far south that even at noontime the light is diffuse. After the shortest day of the year passes in December, and the sun begins its journey north, the days begin to be incrementally longer and brighter and I begin to feel better and better.

Now that I've cheered everyone up, here are a couple of photos that illustrate how quickly the weather can turn.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012--80 degrees F.

Friday, October 5, 2012--temperature in the 30s

I took the snow picture through the window at about 7:30 a.m. The snow is mostly melted now, and some of the flowers are still alive, but temperatures in the low 20s F. are predicted for tonight. I doubt that anything will survive that. On many years we've had flowers blooming until Halloween--I love that--but it is not to be for this year.

Now, I will say that despite my whining I am glad of the moisture. It has been such a dreadfully dry year, with so many grass and forest fires, that I will not regret the snow. And, though I do not tolerate cold very well anymore, I hope that we have lots of good wet snow this winter (but please wait till the leaves are off the trees to prevent breakage). 

Talking about the weather is joked about as the filler we use when we don't know what else to talk about. But the weather affects so many aspects of our lives that its fascination will always stay with us and we will always talk about it!