A Walk in the Park

Monday, September 22, 2008
My memories of September in Missouri include days when I wondered if it would ever be cool again. Summer “officially” ended with Labor Day but the weather didn’t always cooperate. The evenings and early mornings were cooler but daytime temperatures often reached 80 F or higher. Most years, I would expect that kind of weather to last well into October. Some trees started to show hints of color but the real color usually didn’t start until mid-October or even November. Fall seemed to take forever to come and then was much too short.

My first experience with autumn in Warsaw is chilly and wet. We’ve had two weeks of chilly days and rain. I have been excited to see temperatures above 50 F! In conversation with locals, I’ve heard that this is not a “normal” autumn and, in fact, is more like a taste of winter. I’ve been assured that warmer weather is still possible in October. I’ll look forward to it.

In the mean time, I have been enjoying watching Szczesliwice Park begin the transition from summer to winter. Some of the trees are showing color, both in their leaves and in their fruit. I walk through the park and look at the fruit on the trees and bushes and marvel at the variety of color. The colors I see include white, yellow, orange, red, and black/purple. I even ran across a forsythia bush that seems to be confused—two lovely yellow flowers blooming in the fall.

Easel and I have the park to ourselves on these chilly wet days as we walk to and from the tram stop. The bicyclists, inline skaters and baby carriages seem to take a break when it gets too wet. We’ve come to enjoy having time to talk about whatever comes to mind as we walk through the park. I enjoy the fact that our pace of life includes “built-in” time to talk. It’s a definite advantage for us that Easel commutes by tram. I think I’ll miss this when we go back to the States.