where the iron horses don’t roll

In theory the summer is winding down. Campus is starting to get busy again, there are tons of back to school sales, and in normal parts of the US people are looking forward to fall. Falling leaves, decling temperates...but not in Austin. In Austin our "fall" is one day in November where it drops to a chilly 68 degrees, the wind blows and all the leaves come off the trees. No gradual decline marked by mornings where you can taste the bite in the air telling of cooler temperatures to come. No lovely fall foliage decorated drives through the country side. Just more and more days of heat reflecting off the pavement until one day it's suddenly rainy and slightly chilly. Never really cold.

I'm not made for this climate. Triple digits in September makes every cell in my body, including the bacteria, moan in misery. I start dreaming about snow. Cold, sweet, quiet snow and the peaceful feeling in the air when there is eight inches on the ground and it's still falling. As a kid it was those nights when I could stand at the basement door and look up, watching the flakes fall past the flood light above my head and know that there wouldn't be school the next day. There was magic in the air and seemed as if all of nature was holding its breath in order to keep from breaking the silence. Descriptions don't come close to doing justice to the wonder of those evenings. Suffice to say Texas has nothing like it.