The bloom is off the rose. Hurray!

By Todd Stadler · Saturday, September 29, 2007 6:51pm

Well hello, fall!

According to some data I downloaded from Weather Underground, it really wasn't just me — autumn came on rather suddenly and definitively this year. Here's a graph:

Fig. A: Yeah, that's right — I have mad graphing skills that move
beyond mere color into the realm of highly meaningful clip art!

I really want to write some faux mathematical (mathemetacal?) equation that conveys the general idea of this sudden autumnal offset, one involving a step function — like T_Jul–Oct(t)=80-10H(t-t_equinox)+N(t), where H(t) is the Heaviside step function and N(t) the rather convenient random noise function I just made up — but then I realized that I had no real idea about that kind of math anymore, and even if I did, almost no one who reads this would (a) get it or (b) care. So yeah.

Anyhow, we've now officially entered the rainy season, starting Thursday night with the sounds of wind and raindrops that are the hallmark of so many fall and winter nights in Portland. I love the sound of our house being buffeted by inhospitable elements. It makes sitting on the couch with a computer seem less like uninspired laziness and more like a very wise choice.

Now, don't tell anyone in Portland that I really love this time of year. Because it would ruin their fun when they start whining about the rain. (A note for all the non-Portlanders: it's really not that rainy here. The "downpour" we had on Friday, which was the rainiest day so far of 2007, was only 1.1 inches. And it was more rain than we had in all of June, or in July and August combined.)

While I do love the dry summer months here, fall is just more my style. You get to pick clothes based on how they look, and not just how little you'll sweat in them. Snuggling up to your loved one becomes much more enjoyable. And hanging out in the cozy bed seems like a much more legitimate activity. In short, fall doesn't seem so pushy as summer. Fall kindly suggests that you take it easy.

Plus, coffee, tea, and beer all seem to find their place best when the weather becomes crisper. There's just something defiant about sitting inside on a nice, gray day, staring out the window over the wisps of steam* coming off your coffee, as if to say, "I am warm and content — so there!"

*The nerd in me is compelled to note that it's not actually "steam", but rather a mixing or vapor cloud, that one sees coming off hot liquids.

Anyhow, fall. Yay!