The Long Fall

Western Washington has had an extended stretch of dry, sunny weather.  One week into October we still enjoy sunny days with highs in the low to mid 70's.  This year's late September trip to Mount Rainier was nothing but pleasant weather.  Three years ago, a visit at this same time of year included snow and wet weather.  Long-time residents remark that the weather is unusual.  It's the longest stretch of summer-fall weather I've seen since moving to Olympia five years ago.

It is not my first experience with such weather.  I arrived at Fort Lewis in mid-September 1970 in similar weather which lasted well into October when the dark and wet began in earnest.  I have fine memories of that pleasant weather while it lasted.  I recall, too, hoping that it would last for the duration of my infantry training.  October dashed those hopes and gave me a new appreciation for warm and dry, an appreciation that I've never lost.

Still, those fine, sunny fall days left an impression that led me back.  By the time I finally made it here, I knew that those memories were not the reality I would encounter.  My reconnaissance trip to Olympia in December 2005 made that very clear.  I think spending all those years in Arizona must have given enought sunlight to appreciate the dark and wet that comes here eatch winter.

The forecast indicates that our run of late summer weather will end in a few days.  No matter.  I'm ready for the coming of the Big Dark and the wet weather it will bring.

But I will bask in the sun when it shines.