Taxi4umom: Leave Taking

I love fall. I haven’t actually ever sat down and analyzed why. I just do. Some see it as a harbinger of the long, dark dreary winter. Those are the people who don’t like winter.
I don’t like winter. I don’t like the lack of sunlight, the icy roads and slippery sidewalks. It reminds me of my high school years in Beavercreek, Ohio. The freezing rain left a thin quarter-inch coating of crystal clear ice on everything. Every sign, every road, every car. I swore I would never be warm again. Then I went on to BYU. Because I worked as a secretary on campus, I had to wear a dress to work (those dress code rules are long since over), and thus wore dressy shoes. No such thing as cross trainers, except maybe some ugly grandma hushpuppies or something. Being the fashion plate that I was, I wore high heels – with leather soles – which would soak up the water and as soon as they hit the linoleum floors in the JKB, so did I. I seem to spend as much time on the floor in the hall as I did on my chair.

Enough about winter, I am not crazy about summer either. Here in Utah everyone says the heat is OK because it is a dry heat. When it is a 104 in the shade, wet or dry, it doesn’t matter, it still feels like living in Hell. Now Salt Lake is not as bad as my Arizona friends, but it is still bad. One September, Bob and I went to a conference in Phoenix. I was not sure whose bright idea that was, because it was like going to Hell on a vacation. It was 110, too hot to even sit by the pool. I stayed in my room most of the time, except when I could run to my air conditioned rental

car and then to an air-conditioned museum. So you can see, summer is not great either. And spring, while lovely, is simply too short.

Fall is by far my favorite time of year. The cool evening lend themselves to lazing about on the new patio. The mosquitos and yellow jackets are fewer in number and the crickets start to sing at dusk. Turning off the air-conditioner in September is a wonderful experience. The nights are cool enough that you can open the window and put another blanket on the bed. An acquaintance of mine called this "good sleeping weather." I just don’t get over heated. At my stage of life, overheating is sometimes a problem, so I appreciate the weather cooperating with me a little bit. Also, with MS, I find that I feel better when it is not so hot. I need all the good days I can get. I’m a little more energetic in the fall.

Mother nature brings out all her best colors in the fall. On Labor Day Weekend, as we drove over Trapper’s loop from Huntsville, there was just the ever so slight change in color. A little touch of red that could only be seen if you squinted up your eyes and looked ever so hard. This last Saturday, there was a significant change. All the coolness of the green leaves are turning to the warm reds and oranges and yellows I just love – I love warm colors, not warm temperatures. In another week, due to the drought, I read, the colors may be gone. I was going to take the opportunity to take a little side trip up Ogden Canyon and back over Trappers’ went to Ogden to file my property tax appeal (another story for another day) but found that I could file my mail. The rest of the week was pretty awful and by Thursday I didn’t have a car (again a story for another day) and was scheduled to help with the office move. Anyway, my wonderful Sarah suggested that we spend the night in Huntsville and then drive back over Trappers in the morning (another thing I can do now that Kathleen drives) and take these beautiful pictures. I have rambled enough. Just look at this fabulous site.