Indian Summer

I don't know if it's really appropriate to call our current warm weather an Indian Summer because I always thought it was a phrase unique to the United States.  There were no Native Americans here in the UK, but there are a lot of folks from the country of India.  *shrug*  Our little warm snap is newsworthy here locally - see the link below the picture for details.

Indian Summer


It started out cool this morning, so I shuffled off to an 11:00 am committee meeting in a 3/4 sleeve cardigan and jeans.  By the time I was ready to head back to the school at 3:15 to work in the concession stand for the volleyball games, I had shed the sweater and rolled up my jeans to wear them as capris.  With our cooler than average August and most of September, I had already put away most of my warmer weather items of clothing.  Cooking up some hot dogs and grilling some sandwiches on the hot press had me just a perspirin'.  Dontcha hate the feel of sweat trickling down your back?  Up to this point I believe the only place in the UK where I've had this sort of sweaty experience was during my workouts at the gym.


Once the serious cold weather arrives, we will have the hatches battened down so I'm enjoying getting some fresh air into the house this week.  I don't mind keeping the windows open during the day, but I hate keeping them open at night.  We have moths over here, which seem pretty benign.  However, those little nuisances have a nasty habit of invading closets and nibbling away at your fine woolen garments.  For the first time in my life, I bought some sort of hanging thingy with moth repellant in it to place in the coat storage closet.  Based on the fact that any and all insects assume we have an open door policy, I figured it was just a matter of time before they set up housekeeping in my favorite London Fog overcoat.

Aren't the changing leaves just beautiful?  We have two trees, one in the front yard and one in the back garden, that are a fiery shade of red.  The other day, I was sitting in the family room and noticed a couple squirrels playing chase around the base of a big tree.  I figured it was all a ruse so they could scope out my new "squirrel proof" feeder that will keep our fine feathered friends fed over the winter months.  As I stood in the bay window and watched the squirrel antics for a few minutes, I couldn't help but notice the leaves slowly fluttering to the ground from several of the trees.  


Fall officially arrived on Sept. 23 this year and it appears that our local flora knows it.  However, someone needs to give the climate a heads-up.  You know you're having some abnormally warm weather when our lows in the UK are the same lows they're having back in Texas.  I'm not so sure I believe a story published in a UK newspaper recently that said we could expect an early winter, with the chance of snow in October.  To be honest, I'd rather unpack my sandals than root through the closet for my winter boots.