A chilling effect

It’s finally cooling down. For a straight few days there Texas was warmer than Baghdad, my weather widgets on my Apple dashboard thing told me so.

Now, though, it’s cooler–cold, even. The air conditioning is off and the room stays a comfortable spell without the exercise of electrical climate control.

Last night I stood out on the porch and watched the embers of the day smolder, highlighting streaks of clouds with warm reds and whites amid the chilling air. I stood without any sort of jacket–every once in a while I think it’s necessary to let the elements hit me. It’s a sort of “welcome to the season” ritual I go through. I guess it’s the start of my autumns, winters and summers.

My body shivered. I hadn’t felt that in quite a while, apart from the near-heat exhaustion, where you break into a cold sweat from nausea. I remember feeling that and remembering autumn. Weird, isn’t it?

I think autumn is my favorite time–not too cold, and freshly culled from searing summer, so that the novelty of cooler weather hasn’t passed away entirely.

There are the mornings to contend with–the dark, pre-dawn hours that finds me standing in measured ranks, awaiting the command to exercise. I could do without those. I remember telling my boss one morning that I would hardly miss those little times after I was done with the Army. In fact, I intended never to see anything pre-six A.M. again, if I could vouch for the preference.

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