Saturday, October 13, 2007

Ready, Set, Go

Last week at our writers’ group we were discussing autumn. One of our members was bemoaning the turning and falling of the leaves. “Thank God for conifers,” she said. Another said autumn was her favorite season – the beautiful foliage, the cozy feeling when it gets dark early. The men didn’t seem to have an opinion one way or the other. When we first came to New Brunswick, for several years winter arrived without my being prepared. Lawn furniture or hose or bicycle was left outside and covered with snow. The kids didn’t have new boots. Our winter clothes weren’t out. The furnace hadn’t been checked. As the years have gone by, I have become more and more obsessed with getting ready for winter, and this year, having been battered by all sorts of unexpected crises, I am more obsessed than ever. The other day when my aunt phoned, I told her I was getting ready for winter. She was amused. Her parting words were, “Go get ready for winter.”

3 comments:

S. Kearney said...

Good advice. My winter is coming too! :-)

Joseph Duemer said...

I've been living in the north for 20 years, but I'm only now getting the hang of bringing in the hose & deck chairs & other stuff. It's partly because I have bonsai that have to move to winter quarters. I love the fall, but winter always still sneaks up on me. I knew all summer that the wood stove needed a new grate, but only today, after we had started burning fires last week, did I pull the old grate out & go to the machine shop to have a new grate made. (Waterford stoves are no longer distributed in the US, thus the machine shop -- shipping a five pound piece of cast iron from Ireland by Express Overnight would probably exhaust my retirement savings.)

Zhoen said...

Bon Hiver.