In the last couple of weeks, night time temperatures have been dropping to around 50F. This is my favorite time of year because you can wear a hat and a coat and be snug while the air feels crisp and sharp.
Yesterday morning was the first frost I’ve seen this year. Which means that the trees are now going to change color fairly quickly. One of the maples has already begun.
I will post a few of these over the next couple of weeks, chronicling the changes. Because, I can.
For me the first frost was almost a month ago. Tree leaves have already changed colors, a significant portion are on the ground already.
I have been thinking about making some landscape photos, but the weather has been shitty for the last two weeks, always cloudy, mostly rainy. Not good for photography at all. This is why so far these https://andreasavester.com/autumn-themed-photos-of-a-pomeranian-puppy/ are the only fall themed photos I have made this year. As you can see, they are taken indoors where it is dry and warm.
I prefer summer. I just don’t like cold.
There are nature is beautiful of the picture.
I love this time of year too; actually to be honest I love all times of year. However our fall was sadly disrupted when, last week, the temps dropped to 19F. All the fruit on the trees froze solid and all the leaves on the trees froze solid too, so I doubt we’ll have a nice display of fall color this year. I’ll just enjoy these pics! In the meantime I am frantically canning all the fruit I could pick before the freeze, which I frantically picked on that last day.
Beautiful. This is my favourite time of year. I wait all summer for the cooler air and the light to get softer, and I love it when the trees look like they’re on fire.
As shown by and because of me ‘aving a massive cold, I hate the fall and winter. (Where I live, it is just wet, windy and cold.) So I am totally with Andreas… .
The colours are pretty though and I look forward to your next installments, Marcus.
avalus@#5:
I hate the fall and winter. (Where I live, it is just wet, windy and cold.)
You’re in Germany, if I recall correctly?
I have to admit, some of the coldest I have been was in Berlin one fall. I had thought I would wear layers, including some polartec and tweed – both of which the wind cut through like a knife.
Andreas Avester@#1:
That puppy is weapons-grade cute!
Marcus @#6
Nah, winters in Germany are nice and warm. It can get much worse than that. I have spent some time studying in Germany (I lived in Mainz), and that was the nicest and warmest winter in my entire life. I didn’t have to experience weeks with temperatures around -20°C. I didn’t have to ruin my winter boots by walking through a thick layer of disgusting sludge created from half-melted snow with some salt sprinkled on it. In Germany winters are relatively nice and warm.
@ 8 Andreas Avester
I didn’t have to experience weeks with temperatures around -20°C. I didn’t have to ruin my winter boots by walking through a thick layer of disgusting sludge created from half-melted snow with some salt sprinkled on it.
Sounds lovely.
Don’t they play football during the winter in Germany? It cannot be that cold. My bet would be that it was dampness not the cold per se that got Marcus.
Andreas Avester@#8:
It can get much worse than that.
I was speaking at USENIX one winter in Malmo, Sweden. It was so cold the harbor froze and even the Swedes were saying it was impressively cold. United airlines managed to misplace my luggage somehow so I wound up wagging down a taxi and walking into the lobby of the hotel wearing a hawaiian shirt, loafers with no socks, and chinos, carrying an aluminum briefcase and nothing else. The staff at the hotel looked at me like I was a nut until I explained that the situation was not my choice.
Then there was the time I was in Moscow and my luggage with my clothes was in Warsaw. (It had been following me across eastern Europe, always a day behind, thanks to United airlines and Frankfurt airport) It was February. But they were having a heat wave so I was wandering around in a sweater under a tweed jacket, and it wasn’t too bad. Of course all the Moscow girls were wearing shorts and halter tops. That was surreal.
In terms of sheer nasty pure cold, it’s hard to beat Fargo, ND, which I visited once in January. It was -32F and windy. I learned that high comedy in Fargo is to ask other people in Fargo, “why are you here?” and then say “I don’t know.”
Yesterday was the first day since (probably) March where the daily highs didn’t hit 30C. I don’t miss snow, but the heat gets unbearable. Worse, people *insist* on “business attire”, which means overdressing and energy wasted on air conditioning.
@Marcus: Yes, but the north east of germany is quite a bit colder. I live middelish-west. Berlin wind though seems to have knife like quality of it’s very own. Probably has to do with the architecture…
@Andres: Hallo aus Mainz! Funny that. Yeah, The Ex-Snow Sludge is a thing here.
@Jrkrideau: They do, I wish they would freeze but, alas they don’t.
avalus @#12
Cool. I loved living in Mainz. After growing up in the land of bigots, living in a more tolerant society felt amazing. I was finally free to explore my gender identity and be my masculine self. Also, Johannes Gutenberg Universität was great.
Regarding snow on the streets, the difference is that in Germany people clean the snow by removing it from the parts of the pavement where people walk. In Latvia people are too lazy for that. Instead they just throw some salt on the pavements and wait for the snow to melt on its own. The result is about 10 cm thick layer of grey sludge consisting of half-melted snow and salt. Walking through this shit ruins shoes. More importantly, it hurts dog paws. We have dogs in my family, and what walking through salt does to dog paws is just awful.
We have dogs in my family, and what walking through salt does to dog paws is just awful.
My dog-walking friends have winter booties for their dogs.