Well, they say a real cool front is due here tomorrow. Temps in the low 70s! I guess its time to make my winter preparations. I will dig out my winter clothes (dark-colored Bermuda shorts), and replace the Jelly Bellies on my desk with cinnamon gummy bears.

Actually, winter for us is always a little later. Last year, it was an afternoon in the middle of February. I still have plenty of time to bring in the key limes and kumquat trees in their large containers, along with the bougainvillea. I give the hibiscus a little protection, and they make it alright, planted outside my office window. Even the bananas made it last year, and presented us with two big stalks this summer.

Oh, yeah, I know. Some of you are enjoying crisp mornings and fall-colored leaves already. That smart-aleck, Gayla even went and moved to four-season Missouri. Well, this is for yall:

-

Autumn sky,

Wrapped in a ribbon of blackbirds.

Winters coming,

Itll be here with the sun.

Summer morning,

An afternoon of spring,

Autumn evening,

Bringing blackbirds of the wing .

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-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), September 24, 2000

Answers

In the low country of the bayou, fall is marked by the blackbirds. They spend their days rummaging in the rice fields, but every evening they fly to their roost in the wetlands, where they sit swaying in the wind on the end of salt grass stalks.

But the way they fly has always been one of my favorite sites. A huge flock will appear as a thin ribbon, maybe only a few yards wide, but stretching for two or three miles. As they fly, the ribbon undulates like it has a greater life of its own, rising and falling, swaying in the wind; never breaking.

When I worked in town, I would often catch a flock flying alongside the road on my way home. Sometimes, I would stop just to watch. Autumn on the bayou, will, for me, always be blackbird evenings.

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-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), September 24, 2000.

Kewl, Lon!

Yes, we've even had frost here... the farmers are crying. The trees are beautiful, although they were even better at this time last week. I like spring and love summer. Autumn is beautiful, but I find it sad 'cause I know that winter is soon to be here!

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), September 24, 2000.

Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!

It's got cold...had to put on a long sleeve shirt today.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), September 26, 2000.

;-P Robert!

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), September 28, 2000.

First hard frost last night, summer is officially over.

Had a heck of a time getting out of work early enough yesterday to pull the last of the peppers and tomatoes. Don't these hotshots that enjoy the fruits of my labors all summer realize that this is a legitimate crisis? Sheesh!

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), September 29, 2000.

Frost?????

Is that like when it gets cold and things turn white and frozen and stiff and stop growing?

(Usually, when I get problems like that, I have to turn the freezer off for a little while, drain the pan, and clean the inside out....not too big a problem...happenes every six months or so down here.)

8<)

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), September 29, 2000.