Things you forget about fall

When you have a painfully long summer like the one we're finally ending (maybe, since it's not unheard of to have a temp of 75 or 80 through December), you forget what the other seasons are like. Hell, it's hard to even imagine they exist.

Yesterday, a north wind started blowing about mid-day. We're not talking hurricane, not the 12-hour battering din of Katrina and Rita. This was just a steady, confident breeze announcing the change of seasons sure as a page turning in a book.

Around here, wind is rare in the summertime. After a while, you forget there's even a possibility of anything but a sudden storm tearing through. I was surprised to open my blinds this morning and see the breeze was still combing through the trees, making that rustling sound that is one of my strongest memories of autumn. When I think of fall days from childhood, that sound drowns out any other voices. There's just the wind and the smell, and me in my wool uniform having an afterschool snack.