Tuesday, December 04, 2007

global weirding*

They may have canceled fall in New York**, but here in Virginia it's still going strong. In fact in many ways this was the most fall-like fall I remember spending here. It didn't start until November, which was a bit odd (October, as I remember it, we bounced around between summer temperatures and winter ones), but once it hit, it stayed. The last of the dull red burnished leaves blew off our dogwood yesterday; down the block there is a stand of gingkos still gloriously golden (pardon the alliteration), and vibrant red ornamental maples flame out all over town. The weather is crisp and clear--it gets cold overnight, and we've had a little rain and a lot of wind. All in all, it feels like mid- to late October in New England.

The fact that it's December is, however, deeply weird.

*I read somewhere recently that this was a better description of climate change than "global warming." I can't find the source now, though.

**I would swear I read a short, funny piece in the New York Times (or maybe The New Yorker?) about how fall is now being canceled after a very long run. But I can't find that, either.

4 comments:

Becca said...

If it helps, I read both those things--the global weirding and the cancelling fall. I couldn't tell you where to find them, but I can affirm your sanity!

Anonymous said...

Tom Friedman in NYT, I think.

Lilian said...

Yes, it did feel very weird, to have leaves until the very end of November here in PA.

Anonymous said...

Just been reading about this in the NYT, they have a list of some of the new buzz words that began being used in 2007 and that is one of them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/weekinreview/
23buzzwords.html

Here in Western Australia there have been definite delays in the start of summer. We have been wondering when our usual hot summer will arrive, having had lower than normal temperatures up until now, and much more rain than usual here and on the eastern seaboard.

Unfortunately it has chosen today (xmas day) to say howdie, with the temperature predicted to top a blistering 40 degrees for the following two days