The autumn equinox is today, marking the official end of summer. Not that we here in San Francisco notice it, because the weather is at its best right about now. Sometime in November it will get a little cooler and rain a lot until March or so. Then it warms up a bit and the rain goes away, and we’re back to normal again.
To someone who grew up with Northeast winters, it feels like there are no seasonal differences out here. I don’t really miss those days when the wind-chill factor approached zero, but like the old song says, autumn in New York was a beautiful thing. I miss the days when Central Park looked like a big patchwork blanket of fall colors and there was a crisp freshness to the wind that you never had in summer. I hated how early the sun went down, but there were the holiday lights to cheer you up – walking through New York in December was always a joy. The real slog was January through April, when all you had to look forward to was spring and spring always seemed too far off.
Of course, there’s a lot to be said for never needing a down jacket and being able to wear flip-flops and a t-shirt in March. And Lake Tahoe is only 4 hours away if I want cold and snow. Perhaps this year I’ll be able to scrape the bucks together for a ski weekend, I haven’t seen snow in two years. A girl can dream.