Changing Seasons

The seasons are changing. Officially it is from winter to spring, but here it’s known by the cool season to the hot season. However, having spent the majority of my life where spring exists there are a few marks of spring.



There’s the smell of spring—that smell of opening the house up after having it closed for several months. There’s the feeling of wanting to get outside to enjoy the beautiful weather and not complaining on a hot day because it actually feels nice. I am reminded of the glorious spring days at EMU in April, trying to finish up papers, yearning to be outside instead of in my room studying—I wasn’t able focus if I tried to study outside like many other students were. There are the flowering trees, with fragrance filling the air.


Our apartment is cool; the outside is warm. I wish I could hold this coolness in but time keeps marching closer and closer to the hot season where the ceiling fans are on all the time instead of just in the evening when the house is cooling off. The sun is gradually creeping closer to the position for the hot season. Last year when I saw the sun beginning to shine in our apartment at 4:00 in the afternoon, I marveled and thought it to be my favorite time of the day. This year, watching it come in, I wonder how long will it be until it is coming in at noon and heating up our apartment for the day. Our tans are starting to come back. The familiar stripes from my Chaco sandals are becoming defined as I wear my sandals walking around the city.


Ironically, some of the trees are changing its leaves and losing them. So we see huge bright red leaves littered on the sidewalks and streets as these trees transition. The huge tree across from our apartment building in the Catholic Church’s yard is losing its leaves; in a few months it will sprout new leaves. Though the calendar reads September, for my northern hemisphered mind, I wonder if it shouldn’t be Lent and we should be preparing for Easter instead of in Common Time in the church liturgy, finishing the liturgical year.


12 September 2011