[TheForge] Seasons (Re: TheForge Digest, Vol 32, Issue 31)

[Mike Spencer]

> I thought summer ended January 5th. Winter is January 5th - 7th,
> Spring January 8th - 10th then back to summer again...

In Nova Scotia we (for very local values of "we") have six seasons:

     Fall     -- Canadian Thanksgiving to late December.  Gradual
                 transition from Heaven to Huddle (q.v., infra)

     Solstice -- December 21 to Jan 4, sit by the fire, read books,
                 drink cider or single-malt, ignore world. Make fudge,
                 pralines and piggies [1], bake chocolate chip cookies,
                 ginger cake, chocolate pie.  Swill espresso.

     Huddle   -- Jan 5 to mid-May.  Ice, snow, rain, freezing rain,
                 blattering rain, mud, fog, black t'ick o' fog.  Did I
                 mention cold rain?  Ice-mousing season for the
                 cat. [2] Haul storm-wracked seaweed from beach to garden.

     Spring   -- Mid-May to end of June. Till and plant gardens, worry
                 about rain, of which there is either way too much or
                 way too little.  Onset of blackflies, ticks and
                 mosquitoes.  Worry about late frosts.

     Hustle   -- July and August. Tourists arrive. People's horrible
                 kids are released on probabtion from school to annoy
                 adults. Worry about tasks that have to get done in good
                 weather.  Social calendar become crowded with events,
                 both of which require clean jeans.

     Heaven   -- Labor day to Canadian Thanksgiving (in October)
                 No bugs, no tourists, perfect weather, ripe tomatoes.
                 Too late to worry about warm weather tasks undone,
                 too early to worry about winter tasks yet to do.



FWIW,
- Mike

[1] Brazil nut, wrapped in caramel fondant, dipped in semi-sweet
    chocolate. 

[2] Like ice fishing.  Cat wanders around snow-covered field, finds a
    suitable hole, sits on the hard-frozen snow crust until a mouse
    or vole pokes it head up.  Lunch on the ice.

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^