Another Winter

I've reverted back to my lap desk. It's easier for eating and typing than using the dining room table. It also allows me to write whilst sitting in front of my window, looking at my tree. Today the sky is dim, a soft grey from horizon to horizon, not quite threatening rain yet not quite providing confidence enough to go out without a coat. There is a chill in the air as it struggles to warm up past freezing.

It may technically be summer for another week, but fall is definitely here in Calgary. The leaves have turned on all but the most hardy of deciduous trees, many of them already fallen, scattering on the grass like a poor man's carpet, showing bits of green through the covering pattern of yellow. The sidewalks and streets have been attacked by the street sweepers and landscapers, leaves thrown into the gutters, there to rest until the next rain or melting snow pushes them downwards where they will clog the gutters, overflowing them into the streets where passing traffic will turn it all into a glorious mess.

It doesn't rain here like it does on the coast. Calgary rains come and go, rather than settling in for months on end. The horizon here is open, rather than encamped by mountains on almost all sides. Certainly I get to see the mountains, often. They are an hours drive to the west, yet visible from here within the city on a clear day, and most days are clear. Even this cold front which brings the clouds and showers will be gone by tomorrow, only to return in a few days, then once again leave.

When the cold of winter finally arrives, perhaps in late October, the skies will be brilliantly blue once again, clearing the air, making the distance seem immeasurable, bringing the far mountains into near focus, spiking the air with a chill. Then too, the winds will come, making me all the happier to sit in front of my window, warm in my apartment, watching the wizards of winter wend their way.

I hope I am still here for that. It would be nice to have another winter.