The Frost is Almost on the Pumpkin

 

by Pa Rock

Man of Many Seasons

Calendars divide the seasons for us into four very neat quadrants - right down tot he date and hour that the seasons officially change.  Of course, things are never actually that neat in nature.  This year summer hung on well past the the official date of its demise as noted on calendars as September 23rd.   Only within the past two or three days have the cold and dreary rains of autumn set in across southern Missouri, and leaves have begun cascading down from the trees by the bushel.  Physically, the seasons where I live changed from summer to fall over the last weekend.

 A possibility of our first frost of this fall was forecast for last night, and, although the temperature at daylight was a frost-friendly thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit, the frost passed us by - and the potted plants that I sat out last spring and carefully watered during our few dry spells this summer, continue to bloom - but those not-so-delicate flowers are definitely living on borrowed time.   Tuesday is Halloween, and certainly they may zombify by then, or perhaps on Wednesday or Thursday, at the very latest, out of respect for Dia De Los Muertos - the Day of the Dead (celebrated throughout much of the Latin American world - and beyond -  on Wednesday for deceased children and Thursday for adults who have died. )   After more than half-a-year of continual blooming, my flowers have earned the sleep of ages, and what better time to drop their petals than on the Day of the Dead.

It's going to be a busy week.  In addition the Halloween and the Day of the Dead, the World Series is in full swing, and the time will revert back to standard settings on Sunday.  There's going to be so much commotion that many may not notice the first frost at all.

But I will, and I am ready.

When the frost happens, my hanging flower baskets will com down and the bird feeders will go up - and everyone will know that it is really autumn in the Ozarks.

Bring it on!