Seasons

I spent a year on the road once, letting weather and hunting seasons dictate my path.  North while it was hot, south while it was cold, and several states for hunting while it was in between.  I remember being at the Grand Canyon in AZ in January and overnight a few inches of snow fell.  It was quite beautiful to see the snow on the layers of the canyon.  But it was also the first time in my travels that I felt homesick. 

It was then that I realized how important the 4 seasons of the north are to me.  The joy of warm sunshine in the spring and the scent of lilacs blooming.  Summer brings it's heat, but everything is beautiful, green and lush.  Fall, well, there simply should be several Octobers in every year. The earthy scent of the woods, the sound of footsteps on leaves on the ground, the crisp air that makes you breathe in deeply, and the colors.  Oh, the colors.  The brilliant foliage, scattered leaves, pumpkins and squash, and even the sunlight takes on a golden hue.  Winter comes with a hush.  The first snow silently falls in the dark, grey woods and silences the leaves as living things tuck themselves away for the season.  It is a time to settle in, get caught up on reading lists that have grown lengthy throughout the year and endlessly carry in wood for the stove. 

Seasons are not quiet or peaceful here in Kansas.  Spring storms are thunderously loud with howling winds and laser show lightening strikes.  Summer is sizzling hot.  Snow does not gently fall, it is blown in horizontally on 50 mpg winds which leave some areas bare but drifts that block roads and doors.  But today it is beautiful.  Blue sky, snow that will melt in a few days is still lovely to look at.  The woodstove is clicking from the log I just added. Yes, seasons are good.