Do You Feel A Chill?

There has been the slightest change in the temperature lately. Not enough to worry about a new Ice Age, or that we should watch out for Woolly Mammoths when we go out to the Back Mountain. But just the bit of a chill to remind us of the earth’s tilt as it spins around the sun in such a way as to cool one hemisphere while warming another.

Fall is another eight days off and “God’s Gift to Poland” (what, over here, we call “Indian Summer,” while the Brits call it “St. Martin’s Summer”) will give us a few days of glorious happiness after we enter into the sure knowledge that winter is coming and we will be socked in until the Groundhog lets us know.

We have two of those critters in Pennsylvania. Punxatawney Phil, who cometh forth on Groundhog Day, and Gus the Lottery Groundhog, on tv nightly.

It’s useless to staple leaves back onto the trees and pretend all is well; they are turning brown and spiraling downward like so many migrating geese hit by lightning. Well, maybe I should say, “like brown snowflakes falling from heaven.” Or just: leaves falling off trees onto the ground.

Pretty soon, the Born-Again hunters will be out with their rifles, conflicted, wanting to shoot a few geese but mindful of their bumper stickers which proclaim: “Honk If You Love Jesus.” Overhead pass large flocks of geese honking as if their salvation (or their butts) depended on it.