A Hymn for Fall

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

We actually sang this hymn school.

 

12 comments on “A Hymn for Fall”

  1. A hymn for the fall, this is the one I immediately thought of. But it doesn’t fit the Philippines.

    Here in the Philippines, in most places we really don’t have just one season or time of harvest. We can start growing crops any time of the year. And we can harvest crops any time of year.

    I do miss apple harvesting this time of year, turning those fresh Wisconsin apples into juice. Fresh apple juice from Wisconsin apples, the best.

    Reply

    1. We have four seasons here in New Jersey and I truly like that. Soon the leaves will turn and I want to take a picture of one of the world’s loveliest trees a few blocks away. Take care Patty

    2. Yes, I do miss the four seasons in Wisconsin. The leaves turning, and some of the loveliest tree lined streets, with yellow and red leaves falling just like snow for a few days. But then its bleak and gray with brown grass, and wind, cold, and damp, and rain. But soon the December snow covers all that up. Yeah, 50 inches in one year, the month of December, and a lot more the rest of the season.

    3. I definitely miss having four seasons. This morning, we are having the first weather I would describe as even resembling Autumn, it’s 52F, but by noon it will probably be 90F. Believe it or not, this in uncharacteristically cool for this locale, this early in autumn.

      Even Winter isn’t all that cold, but the dry desert air can really drain the heat out of you if you are outside at night. Snow is rare, although I’ve seen the occasional snowfall that was heavy enough to disrupt driving. But it’s just not the same as watching the seasons change in the Midwest, or even the Rocky Mountain West.

    4. That’s interesting because this whole summer was on the cooler side. My neighbor also felt we would be having an early winter. It is in the mid to low 40’s in the morning and around 78 in the afternoon. I have to wear my puffer jacket outside in the morning.

    5. This has been an unusual year, here in the desert. Normally, June is the month of the highest heat, and then the heat of June is moderated by the monsoon rains that start, sometime in mid to late July. But this year, rains started in June, and we had a half-hearted monsoon season with fairly light rains in July and August. But then came a surprising twist, because in September the monsoons returned in force, which is unprecedented in my experience. Normally, September is hot and dry, bit this year, I got rained out of my bike rides on several occasions … and more rain is predicted starting in another week. It’s welcome; this is the desert and any rain is treasured, but it’s very uncommon to have substantial rainfall during the Autumn and Winter months.

      I enjoyed the cool of this morning. I had my weekly breakfast in a nearby town, wearing a flannel shirt, a pair of Chinos and my WW II style leather flight jacket; all bundled up like I was up north. The dry desert atmosphere makes a 50 degree morning here feel about the same as a 30 degree day would feel up north.

      The problem is that even in the dead of Winter, most days reach about 70F, so you never fully acclimate to cold weather. If I travel up north, my tolerance for cold increases within a day or two and I would wear the same jacket at 10F as I would wear here when it’s 50. The good thing is we never have the bitter cold of sub-zero (Fahrenheit) temps. That’s something I don’t miss, at all.

  2. When I was stationed in Cheyenne (Wyoming), we used to say we had two seasons: winter and Frontier Days (the last week in July). Here in central Ohio we still say we have two seasons: winter and road construction. And it’s the road construction season that seems never to end.

    Come to think of it, we had two seasons where I was stationed in the Philippines: rainy season (monsoon) and dry season. Temperatures stayed pretty much the same, though.

    Reply

    1. I’ve spent some time in Cheyenne, and there are many things I like about that town. The wind, however, is not one of those things. Along the Front Range of the Rockies, a west wind is not unusual, especially in the colder months, but I remember driving north from Denver on I-25 and as soon as you crossed the state line into Wyoming, the wind seemed to be stronger.

      The other thing about the Front Range are the east winds, which almost always mean snow, and in many cases, lots of it. What is interesting is that an upslope (east) wind can all but paralyze the area with heavy snows over night and the very next morning, the wind will shift to coming from the west, in a Chinook wind. Chinooks go ever the top of the Rockies, then the air mass warms as it compresses against the plains, so the temperature can, and will rise quickly. I have actually shoveled my driveway wearing shorts and a T shirt, when the wind shifted and the temperature went into the ‘60s.

      That’s the bad stuff, but there is a lot of good things about Cheyenne. It’s really a colorful place, with a lot of interesting history. The Union Pacific RR operates a massive Big Boy steam locomotive out of Cheyenne, sending it to various destinations for promotional purposes.

      Arizona has basically two seasons, too hot by day and too cold by night, with some rain in July and August. This year, however, the rains lasted much longer and just yesterday there were some large storm clouds just east of where I live, so some of my neighbors probably got heavy rain.

    2. The wind was our friend. It kept the air fresh and clean. And a day or two after every snowstorm, it blew the snow into Nebraska — along with hats, roofs, and small children. (I made up that last part.)

    3. I miss the Front Range. Denver has become crowded and lost much of its charm, but I still love the area. Cheyenne, to the best of my knowledge, has not experienced that degree of growth, but I don imagine it to be the place I remember from 40-50 years ago.

      And indeed, when the west winds blew, the air was fresh, and lovely.

Leave a Reply to AnonymousCancel reply