Autumn

The trees are dying, the flowers have wilted. It's Autumn

I couldn't figure out why, but I felt very mellow this past weekend. By all signs I should not have felt that way. The weather wasn't great. Fifty degrees, cloudy, rain at times. Four years ago in Florida, that kind of weather would have been disaster. Now it didn't bother me at all. In fact I was running around outside in a light jacket, where as when I lived in Florida I'd have been bundled up like it was the end of the world. Still, I felt good even though the trees are shedding their leaves, and many of the flowers have died off. Just three days until November, the time I used to say winter started, yet it's not bothering me. And then it hit me, I know why I'm enjoying autumn and just might enjoy winter. My Florida blood has been replaced by thick Chicago blood, like one of those so called Chicago pizzas. The cold just doesn't bother me that much anymore. Oh, and there is another reason. I'm retired, I don't have to get up and go to work in the cold. Other than letting the dogs out I don't really have to go out there. Goddamn, retirement is pretty good.