On Being Baby Bear

 If you asked, I'd tell you....

I am a middle-of-the road kind of girl...

I avoid extremes.

I am definitely the Baby Bear that Goldilocks gravitates toward.

So, when it comes to times of the year,

I am happiest when it's "not too hot" and "not too cold"!

That's why Autumn and Spring make me sing.

That's not to say that I don't love all the seasons...I do.

And I love living in a part of the country where the seasons are so pronounced.

It's just that I would love to have a little more of Autumn and Spring.

Call me greedy, but...

it seems more and more each year that these seasons that speak to me of "moderation"...

have become nothing but a quick transition between the extremes.

It was just yesterday, it seems, that I was snapping pictures of magnificent foliage...

and now the trees are barren.

Our world is now faded and tonal...

like a photograph left too long in the sun...

greys and browns are the backdrop for everyday life...

replacing the vibrancy that Summer left behind and Autumn improved upon.

Dear Autumn, why is it that you intoxicate me with your splendor... 

only to pack it up and sneak off with it in the middle of the night?

Ah well, tis time for the land to rest...

a well deserved slumber awaits known as winter.

I will quell my desire for color with other pleasures for now...

the crunch of dry leaves beneath my feet, the smell of woodsmoke in the air,

the sound of geese as they migrate to warmer climes,

longer evenings spent with my love...

I will wrap myself in the warmth of wool and peacefully await the arrival of those

future days when ("not too hot or cold") my world is once again alive with a rainbow of colors.