Autumn Days

When I moved to the Los Angeles area twenty years ago, it seemed like we had summer here all year 'round. I was from Chicago, where the seasons are as clearly defined as the crunch of a boot in a pile of dry leaves, or the pang of a tailbone when it hits a patch of ice.

But we have all four unique seasons in southern California. Our winters bring gray skies and, hopefully, rain. Spring is green in the hills and valleys; the scrub reasserts itself and the air smells of sage. Summer is lazy, funky fun at the beach, glory in the mountains, hot treachery in the desert. And though our autumn may not have the colors of, say, New England, we still experience fall's bittersweet turn of light, its feel of simultaneous endings and beginnings.

Our autumn days are warm. They're shorter now, too. Good days for long walks...or long sits.

(Speaking of days, if I haven't been cut I'll be on Days of Our Lives today as the oncologist, Dr. Knapp. Since the weather's so nice and the scene is short, if you want to watch it I suggest recording it. How did you like my segue?)