“It’s the time of the season.”
This pertains to and will make the most sense for those whose locale has four separate seasons, those who do not have them and wish they did, or those who do have them and wish they did not.
Fall – Ballgames
To this day, autumn means one thing to me: football season!
The sound of marching band percussions and the smell of cigar smoke waffling in the air from one mile away in the stadium on Friday night high school football games from my childhood still resonates and tickles the senses. Sandlot football practice and games, pickup games in the neighborhood, Saturday college games, and Sunday pro games.
The beginning of September is back-to-school time. Yes, it is usually dreaded by students, but there is an excitement for a moment of newness and change.
The weather gradually becomes cooler, the green leaves turn colorful and fall, and before you know it, it’s Thanksgiving.
Ah, Thanksgiving! Just when you think a three-day weekend is the best, you realize that Thanksgiving pretty much provides a five-day weekend (or two day week). Wednesday is the day before Thanksgiving and is a “wash” since people are traveling, business is slow, and the anticipation leads to a holiday mood. Thursday and Thanksgiving: the smell of turkey in the oven, parades in the morning and ballgames on television from noon to night, and crashing on any available chair or couch due to the amount of chowing down you have done. Family and friends unite like no other time of year. When Friday rolls around, it almost seems like Sunday because of the previous two days, but you still have a full weekend ahead. It’s just the kind of all-around pleasant realization that only comes around once a year.
The next thing you know, Christmas commercials and jingles dominate the airwaves and it’s the holiday season. Merry merry.
Then it’s either hunker down in front of a fire for three months and find a way to keep warm, or hop on a plane and escape to warm weather climes.
Winter – Gimme Fire
Some people detest the winter months and its brutal, cold weather. Its lack of sun, addition of clothing layers, and cabin-fever tendencies are pure hell for them … except it’s cold.
For me, I don’t understand the concept of “seasonal affective disorder.” The people who suffer from this supposed malady can’t get to Florida or California fast enough in December, January, and February. And if this is not achieved, they’ve ordered a sun lamp as fast as possible so as to survive the darkness and achieve the tan they have lost/wish they had.
I’ve always said give me two things: tons of firewood and a fireplace to burn it in, and I’m a happy man. That, and the other obvious essentials of survival: shelter, food, and clothing. Throw in a good library with old-fashioned hardcopy books, and it’s all good. It doesn’t matter into what cold-weather locale you throw me. I don’t care if it’s Alaska, Siberia, or up-state New York. Reading, in front of a fire, with a drink, after a good meal and a good dose of nightly hibernation equals heaven on earth no matter the howling winds or snow drifts mounting against the cabin door. And there’s no dreaming of warm-weather locales. Just happiness in the present.
Spring – Has Sprung
Even if you are into cabin fever, it’s hard to deny the attraction of warmer weather, more sun, and nature all around coming back to life.
Those who have some link to academic life, either through a child or as a profession, potentially start the season with a Spring Break trip for fun in the sun and/or snow. If that’s not possible for whatever reason, it’s possible to chill at home for a week and rest up and do nothing.
For sports fans, Spring is a smorgasboard of simultaneous games, tournaments, drafts, and splashy news. Basketball: NCAA Final Four; second half of NBA regular season and playoffs; NBA lottery; WNBA draft and first half of season. Golf: beginning of PGA and LIV tours; Masters and PGA tournaments. Baseball: MLB Spring training and start of season; NCAA regular season and playoffs. Football: NFL draft and non-mandatory/mandatory practices. Tennis: NCAA season and continuation of pro tour.
And the warm weather gradually gives way to hot.
Cleaning the house and its environs is the order of the day at the beginning of Spring. The warm weather brings the want and need to de-clutter and freshen up a house that has been for all intents and purposes closed all winter. The sound of lawnmowers humming throughout the neighborhood becomes increasingly prevalent. Green-thumb types come out of the woodworks and hone their wanna-be gardening skills.
Summer – The Rockets’ Red Glare
Gas up the car and head to the beach, the river, the lake, the country, or wherever it is you go to unwind and relax.
Hop a plane or train and go where you’ve got the time to go. CONUS or OCONUS, it matters not.
If you are hot, you have two options: seek air conditioning or seek water in which to swim. At night, grilling is a favorite past-time and beats cooking inside over an oven. Dusk on the patio or screened-porch with a cold cocktail is hard to beat.
Students either seek summer-time jobs or do nothing, some teachers do nothing after a long nine months in the classroom and a much needed respite, and those of other professions take what vacation they can.
And then it’s back to the old grind.
Credit:
The Hollies. “Time Of The Season.” Odessey and Oracle, EMI Studios, 1967.
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