BRRRR!

changes of seasons...

the thing I loved about being a kid in Illinois was the seasons...it was a defined benefit..something I could count on..something to look forward to...the Summer was bright and warm with us out at night chasing fireflies..the neighbors were cool and I never feared being molested or eaten by one of them..we could hang out in their yards and were always welcomed...we'd go to the local movie matinee on Saturdays to watch Hitchcock films, we'd play army in the field next to the neighborhood, we'd play baseball and get into a couple of fights..not gang fights, just kids sizing each other up..and since our school had wrestling, we were always finding an outlet for all the energy...and of course, someone had sex in the sixth grade and we all heard about it!
Autumn and Winter were like totally fun. Winter was cold and white, like Wendy McCaw! But man oh man what a wonderland: football in the snow, skating at Diamond Lake, riding our little Stingrays on the icy roads..at night the older guys would "skitch"..grab onto the rear bumper of a car and get a ride down the road under the wintery glow of a street lamp..dangerous and fun..nowadays kids can't even play dodgeball and if they get too rambunctious, the adults ply them with drugs that make them psychotic!! Dump the drugs and get back to the physical stuff!!
Then Spring came and the snow started to melt..the warm sun felt so good on cold days...the ground was thawing and you could smell the changes in the air...Illinois is a beautiful place.
So yesterday we had our first December rain in Carp and it was good..cold and wet, like Nipper's business sense or a 401(k). After the rains the storm moved out and it was cold and windy and the air smelled like...like Illinois! I was wisked back to those days for a moment in time by a California storm and it felt good...so good, so timeless and refreshing..that's what's great about California, it's got a little bit of all the states no matter where you go...
so here's to California Dreaming on such a winter's day....