This is Not a Meg Review

Really, it's not. It was supposed to be a review of the new motion picture Meg, but...well...life happened.

We've been subjected to a series of deluges over the last couple of weeks (at last!) which resulted in an allergy flare up for me. I had to skip seeing Meg this weekend. With a little luck, I'll have a review up next week. *fingers crossed*

In the meantime, here's the trailer:

So instead of review today, as a follow-up to Donna's eloquent and sensory seasonal blog on Friday, which you can read right 'chere --  THE JOYS OF FIFTH SEASON  -- I wanted to add a few of my own thoughts on the topic.

When I lived in the cold and damp latitudes, I hated to see Fall (and/or Fifth Season) arrive because it meant a lot of cold, dreary days would soon be followed by the deep freeze and snowdrifts of winter. I suffered from SAD almost every year, and it was greatly compounded by the sudden stillness and isolation of the area where I lived, which in the summer was a thriving resort community in upper lower (no, that's not an oxymoron) Michigan.

The boats and docks would come in around the first of September, the cottages would get winterized and closed up, and the "summer kids"--many of whom were very good friends of mine (as well as a couple of past boyfriends)--would return to school in the big cities in the southern part of the state. Many of them I wouldn't see again for eight or nine long months. and back in those days we didn't have cell phones or computers with Facetime so we could keep in touch on a daily basis.

Remember this old song?  It became my unofficial theme song for Fall.

Yep, life got pretty bleak after Labor Day had come and gone. A thriving community of thousands would suddenly be whittled down to a few dozen "locals" scattered around the girth of an eight-mile long lake, of which I was one. All of the restaurants, go-cart tracks, mini-golf courses, riding stables and arcades would close up shop for the winter. Things got majorly dull.

At least I had my own school year to look forward to, and seeing my classmates again, most who lived fifteen miles away in the tiny town where my school was located.

But at times, it was like I was living in two very different universes. The warm, sunny, sandy one centered around the lake...and the cold, grey, dreary one where I spent a lot of time indoors reading alone--or daydreaming about the next summer. There wasn't much of a Fifth Season in those northerly environs.

But for me, times have changed.

Now, I live in a very different place and I love to see this extra season roll around.

Why? Because that's when New Mexico comes alive with the colors, sights and sounds that celebrate the harvest, the history and the passing of the summer heat.

There are fairs, rodeos and fiestas--both Spanish and Hot Air Balloon. There's the Burning of Zozobra (also known as Old Man Gloom) which has been an annual celebration in Santa Fe for decades. The mountains get painted in swatches of gold and orange as the leaves of the aspens and hardwoods change at the higher elevations, and the aroma of juniper wafts in the air from the outdoor fireplaces and chimineas. Fresh green chiles are roasted in front of many of the local supermarkets, and riestras and wreaths of red chiles are hung on doors and front porches. The mariachis play in the plaza in Old Town and at the State Fair, and we enjoy it all with some of the most spectacular autumn weather--clear, crisp and dry--under the bluest of Southwestern skies.

It's really hard not to love this time of year in the great Southwest.

I hope you're enjoying the seasonal transitions, wherever you call home.

Have a great week (and hopefully I'll be back with that Meg review next Monday).