Category Archives: Seasons

[Author’s note:  The last of my season posts and the only one that I actually published even close to on time.]

Summer rarely sneaks in and shows up overnight in Houston.  Rather it arrives in a long drawn out process that starts some time in April or so.  The cool mornings and pleasant days slowly drift by.  We look over and study the temperature forecasts trying, hoping to detect a little dip in the weekly weather report but there’s no respite to be had and we have to admit that another Summer is on its way.

Summer in Houston is different that in other parts of the country.  The same humidity as New Orleans, the same heat as Amarillo, the same smog as L.A.  It all coalesces together into an unpleasant miasma that’s a palpable force and that lingers like an unwanted guest into late October.

There’s a good reason why Houston’s population didn’t begin to grow until the 1950’s and the advent of cheap air conditioning.  I have to wonder how many of those new Houstonians from other parts of the country that have recently emigrated here looking for jobs will fare with the Summer weather.

The sun shines mercilessly overhead.  Pleasant enough when you’re indoors and looking at it behind a wall of cold air but nasty even if you’re just walking to your car in the parking lot.

Those few clouds that dot the Texas sky will glide on through without a thought given towards rain.  Towards the end of July they will totally disappear and not return till September.

The al-Nefud desert in Saudi Arabia is nicknamed the “sun’s anvil”, but surely that nickname better applies to Houston in late August.  The pre-morning hours are hot and steamy and from there things get progressively worse.

The long summer afternoons go on interminably.  June is supposed to have the longest day of the year but the daylight hours in August keep going and going and going well into 8 or 9 at night.  In the mornings the sun roars to life in the east and in the evenings it hangs stubbornly in the western sky, blinding drivers commuting out to the western suburbs.

This is the time of year when new Houstonians either decide to tough it out or return to whence they came from.

But it’s not all about the sun and the heat in Houston.  The city has developed a modus vivendi with its climate and we have learned to function and even thrive in the weather.  We turn towards the outdoors and use the bright light to hold festivals, we have open air stadiums despite the heat are opened up to let in the light.  We adapt to our surroundings.

As August finally leaves we turn our weather eye to the coast and the coming of the Hurricane season.  That in itself is its own adventure.

I was once told that people have a mental image of themselves as being of a certain age.

Some see themselves as perpetual teenagers.  They run around full of energy, excited at everything, acting irresponsibly, and being passionate about everything and everyone even up into their twilight years.  These people really enjoy their youth.

Others have an image of themselves as elderly and they are very reserved.  Even when they’re young they tend to take things slowly, they’re somewhat dubious about new experiences and prefer to sit back and observe life.  They have everything figured out in their later years.

In this regard I think I have always been middle-aged and possibly that is why I am finally hitting my stride now that my physical age begins to match my mental age.  But more on that another time.

As to seasons I suppose that I have always been an Autumn person and that Spring leaves me feeling a bit underpowered and listless.  I find it to be a season of increasingly hot and humid weather.  After a cool dry Winter I find the heat and humidity sapping my strength and I know that there won’t be any respite for at least 6 months or more.  But more than that, I am at the farthest point in the year away from my natural Autumn and I can palpably feel the loss of power within me.

In some ways this sets up a conflict within me.  Spring is supposed to be the season of renewal and growth and here I am feeling the opposite.  But at the same time I can appreciate all the colors of the blooming flowers, the new crop of squirrels, baby birds, kittens, and other neighborhood animals that will be appearing around the neighborhood.

I grit my teeth and bear it and remind myself that it’s all part of the necessary cycle of life.  The fresh green leaves, the blooming flowers, life springing anew.  It’s all necessary to bring my vibrant Autumn colors that I love.  Spring slowly ramps up and gets ready to deliver Summer to us and we here in Houston look on with a little bit of trepidation as it approaches.

[Author’s note:  This post was delayed by forgetfulness.  I should have posted this months earlier.  Hopefully “Spring” will come out in a few weeks and “Summer” on schedule.]

Normally Winter is no big deal here in the South.  It rarely affects us as much as it does folks in the North.  These past few Winters though have been harsher than most and we have been finding out what it is to be stuck at home waiting out the cold and wind to subside.

The season is supposed to start on the 21st of December but for most people it begins earlier.  I think probably that second week of November is when we mentally enter Winter and we don’t emerge till about late February.

The long cold season means different things to many people.  Some are depressed by the long nights and chilling winds.  Others see it as the beginning of the new year and of possibilities.  To me it’s a sort of state of limbo.  We seem to be caught between finishing the last year and planning for the next.  Plans, ideas, and life are all on hold till the days start getting longer.

Winter has meant long sessions in front of the computer writing, finding inspiration in the darkness that comes earlier and earlier each day.  Shorter and shorter days where I begin work in darkness and end work in darkness.  Somehow I don’t find it gloomy, rather I find it cozy.

This year the cold has been a blessing to my running.  I prefer it to running in the heat and it has meant that I have been able to go longer and farther than I have previously been able to.  At the beginning of the season I felt chilled at 50 degrees but by February I’m going out in shorts and t-shirt in 32 degree weather.  I will miss that as the year progresses.

This break in the year also has allowed and even encouraged my planning for the rest of the year.  As you finish projects and meet goals you find you have extra time and can look at the progress you’ve made and figure out how to build upon that in the coming year.

When you think about it in the correct way then Winter becomes a welcome respite and time to rejuvenate yourself for the days to come.

A history professor once asked a classroom of students if they could live at the beginning, middle, or end of an empire, which would they choose?

So would they live at the beginning of the empire when things are just beginning to grow and everything is fresh and new.  Would they live in the middle of the empire when things are at the height of development.  Or would they live in the final days of an empire when things are deteriorating and falling apart and they have to try desperately to keep things from crumbling.  The idea being that depending on their answer that this would give a better insight into that person’s view of life.

In the same vein I ask people, which season do they prefer?  Things like the rise and fall of empires are a bit over the top for most people to consider but I think everyone can relate to the seasons.  Even here in Texas, where we basically just have a hot and cold season, we have some idea of what seasons are.

Personally I’ve always been a fan of Fall.

I find that Fall tends to bring out very polarizing opinions among people.  They either hate or love it but few people are noncommittal about it.

Those who love it tend to associate it with colorful leaves, cooling temperatures, and harvest season celebrations like Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Those who hate it see it as a depressing season of decay, of increasing darkness, and a preview of a hard winter.

I tend to see it as a reaffirmation of the cyclical nature of our lives and of a system of growth and regrowth.  We tend to forget that in order for something new to grow that something old has to decay and make room for it.

Traditionally Fall was the end of the year.  Time keepers decided to make December 31st the “official” end of the year but in traditional cultures it was Fall.  I tend to think of Fall as the end of the year as well.  Nature and life have once again completed a cycle begun uncounted ages ago.

In my life I have also done this as well.

My business year had its beginning in last year, continued to grow over the months and is now drawing to a close.  Some new orders will continue to come in of course but companies are already thinking of the next year.

My state of health took a particularly good turn this year.  The last couple of years have just been for getting used to exercising on a regular basis but I kept at it over the Winter.  Beginning in early January and going through the Summer I made good progress and look to expand on that as time passes.

I saw a need to make several home improvements last year and planned for it.  I made several improvements to my house over the course of the year.  Some planned, some unplanned but they are all complete now and the house in the best shape that it’s been in years.  Several things left to do of course but I look to continue on the improvements next year.

My personal life?  That needs work.  But I think I have some good ideas to move forward with.  At the very least I have the determination inside of me to keep trying.

Overall it’s been a good year.  Time to sit back with a hot cup of tea and reflect on what worked, what failed, and what can be improved.  I sit back and watch as time clears away the detritus of the old, but down deep in the earth lie the seeds of a new year.  The decay of the old year will feed the growth of the new year.  Deep below the green shoots wait patiently for Winter’s snow to melt and to burst forth again.  Deep inside of me are the plans for a better year.

Fall isn’t the end of the old empire but the beginning of the new.