Autumn arriving

For the most part, autumn has to be my favorite time of the year.

As the trees begin to turn, and the temperatures fall into a zone that I find very comfortable (60 to 70 degrees) and the sun loses its summer ferocity, I begin to feel the urge to take walks again, to breath fresh air, to ramble a bit (physically, not verbally).

Quincy is a great place to ramble about. There's one heck of a lot of cool stuff to see, from the riverfront to the airport, from the lock and dam to Moorman Park. Nature, manmade wonders, people, all kinds of stuff. Lots to see, lots to do. Or not do--I spent an hour yesterday just sitting in Washington Park and enjoying the day now that the heat finally seems to have gone bye-bye for another year.

Don't get me wrong: while I hate the incredible heat of summer, and the extreme cold of winter, those seasons have a beauty of their own in Quincy (and maybe other places, but I'm not talking about them today). I like them, especially that one night we seem to get every year when snow has fallen all day and now the sky is low and the snow undistrubed and its silent and no one is around. Or the K of C and the county fair and various other fun things in the summer.

But I'm a red and gold, scrubbed blue sky, chilly night/pleasant day, apple cider, corn maze, guitar and folk songs by a fire, let's-hear-it-for-fall fun kind of guy. Quincy fall days seem to have something special. Maybe it's just me, but there it is.

Sure, as a community we have issues, but all in all I don't think I'd want to live anyplace else, especially in autumn.

"And if I'd ever leave you,
It wouldn't be in autumn.
Seeing you in autumn, I never could go.
Your hair streaked with sunlight,
Your lips red as flame,
your face with a luster
That puts gold to shame..."

I like it here, falling leaves and all.