Summer Slips Out The Side Door, Ho Ho Ho

Autumn in San Elijo Hills

We don't get much in the way of changing seasons here in America's most southwestern corner.   Where I grew up, the upper Midwest, we sported what is euphemistically referred to as a "continental climate".  Let me translate:  Cold as a mother-in-law's heart in Winter and blast furnace hot in the Summer.  Please feel free to throw in "always a stiff breeze" for both situations.  I hated it.

As a kid I had to live there, however, once the Army turned me loose I was free to make that "All American" big boy decision to park myself and my family anyplace I chose.  I chose Florida.  The Summers were steamy and the bugs plentiful but I loved the fact that most any Winter day in the sunshine state blew the doors off anyplace up North.  There were two seasons in gatorland: nine months of very pleasant temperatures and three months of extreme steam bath.

Southern California has been my home for most of the past thirty years and, despite the train wreck of  governance in Sacramento, it still has the most agreeable climate in North America.  Northern San Diego county is nearly perfect almost every day of the year and, though it took me awhile, I now recognize the subtle changes in the air as we move from Summer to Fall.  The shadows are longer, the air just a little more crisp, a hint of sage and dry brush is in the wind along with the hope it won't be mingled with smoke.  Our rains won't  refresh us until November.  Soon, some mornings will require the warmth of a sweatshirt or sweater and the fireplace will seem more and more a good idea as evenings grow longer.  The kids have gone back to school; so the neighborhood is slightly more quiet--"hey you kids, get off my lawn!"  This year the Padres aren't just going through the motions of one more"wait 'til next year" season.  They're actually playing well and--this is probably baseball dementia--look like they may have a shot at a wild card birth in the playoffs.  (Yeah, I should probably lie down.)

Wasn't it just Memorial Day?  About the time I get used to the idea of Summer, here comes Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving and-- "how the hell did that happen?-- CHRISTMAS!  I saw the first Christmas displays at Costco more than two weeks ago.  Decorations, ribbons, wrapping paper, kids toys and holiday baskets of chocolates and booze were three isles long and a mile high in AUGUST for cryin' out loud. My mother would have had a fit. When I was nine or ten  she was outraged at seeing a Christmas display in the window of the Gamble's store of our little Michigan town one week before Thanksgiving.  She wasn't alone.  Lots of adults thought it was in poor taste not to wait until after Thanksgiving for Christmas promotions.  These days, if you're in retail, waiting until Halloween is only for the timid. 

So, here we go.  Another year is nearly history.  Wasn't it New Year's Day a couple of weeks ago?  Time to get busy Christmas shopping.

Don't worry, I'll be posting my sizes and a list of things I'd like to see under my tree this year.  You'll have plenty of time to shop.  Forgive me for not waiting until after Thanksgiving.  Wait, better yet,

 cash is always nice.  

I take EXTRA LARGE.

Looking toward the Pacific from San Elijo Hills