??Autumn??

Here is a dilemma I haven't had for 21 years... Is it really autumn?

Growing up in southern California the signs of fall were school starting and a few trees deleafing.. oh and Santa Ana winds. It was usually warmer in the fall than most of the summer. Well, moving to North Carolina then Tennessee, and finally Utah autumn took on a whole new meaning for a couple of kids from California... It got cooler...especially at night and the leaves put on a great show of color.

Here in southeast Alaska we have returned to the original problem...what tells us it is fall?
I was driving to work today(I'm in Juneau again) and noticed that many of the deciduous trees are changing color. Yet, it doesn't feel like fall.

I decided that the problem lay in contrast...

In southern Calif. the temperature is pretty constant... any day of the year is from 65 to 85 degrees be it Christmas, our anniversary, Labor day, my birthday, Lori's birthday, etc. In Tennessee and NC the temps go from the 90's every day to the 70's... in Utah it is the upper 80's to the 60's. Fall is not just seen, it is felt.

Here in Juneau or Sitka or Klawock it has been in the mid-50's for the past 6 months. We have had probably 1 or 2 days in the 70's and only a handful in the 60's. Now in the fall it is still in the mid-50's...OK, maybe the upper 40's in a few weeks. So the biggest changes we'll get for autumn are a few leaves changing (remember we have mostly fir/evergreen trees here) and more rain. Of course this year it has been exceptionally wet for summer.

Thankfully this is something that we can adapt to and in no way decreases our happiness at being here. Hey the summers can only get better from here...right?