tzikeh

One of the things that I enjoy about Chicago (that so many people here, it seems, don't) is that autumn is so... "variable" is too light a term. Unpredictable. Incomprehensible? There are lots of cities where the "if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes" joke applies, but there's something about the complete randomness of October in Chicago that that statement can't capture. In July, the weatherman might claim a day "unseasonably cool" (or hot, I suppose), and the same with January--but if it's October, there's just no "unseasonably" anything. There's no control group for what should or shouldn't be in October.

Yeah, it's annoying to wake up freezing, turn on the heat, go out, come back and turn off the heat and immediately open all the windows for the beautiful, breezy, low-humidity air, and then have to shut all the windows and crank the air conditioning up as high as it can go when it's suddenly 90 degrees, then go *from air conditioning to heating in thirty seconds* half an hour later when it drops 40 degrees, and then wake up at 2am because it's stifling and there's a thunderstorm. But I don't know, man, I just take it all in with love.

Hallowe'en used to be my unofficial marker between autumn and winter. When I was growing up, Hallowe'en was almost exactly the same weather every year: brisk, but not chilly, clear, but not painfully dry. The leaves were crunchy on the ground, but there were still lots of leaves left on the trees in their autumn colors. Whereas, during my twenty-some years in Chicago, there have been Hallowe'ens with more than a foot of snow on the ground, and Hallowe'ens when kids don't wear their costumes because it's too freaking HOT.

Still, I would be remiss if I didn't point out that IT'S DECORATIVE GOURD SEASON, MOTHERFUCKERS. "Guess what season it is—fucking fall. There's a nip in the air and my house is full of mutant fucking squash." Oddly enough, this is true, as

shrift belongs to an awesome Mutant Fucking Squash Co-op, and our... marble-breakfastbarlike-overthesplashback-kitchen-and-livingroom-separator-thingy is, in fact, happily bedecked with awesome gourds of autumn colors. I tried to take pictures to share, but the camera on my phone is Teh Crap. Maybe I'll be able to get

shrift to take some photos later. It's REALLY pretty and goes with all the colors in the living room and stuff!

(Thanks to

copperbadge for the reminder about Decorative Gourd Season)