The Bittersweet Season

I'm beginning to wonder if we will ever see the sun again. I can't even recall the last time I was able to go for a walk (and I'm feeling guilty about that). It might have been Saturday. I know we had moments of good weather, though cool, that day. That was the day Laura and Brian had their cookout and hayride party. It was also the day I worked at the Historical Society museum. We also had a few decent moments on Sunday. That was the day my sister and I went to the play at The Granite Theater. There was a glorious sunset that evening which I arrived home just seconds too late to photograph. The color was so bright, even the pavement and the houses looked pink. Even on the days that haven't involved actual rain, it has been dreary and threatening. I'm a person who suffers all winter from sunlight deprivation, so these last days of clement weather are precious to me. I feel like I want to be outside as much as possible in order to memorize what daylight is like. A friend published a picture of a pretty, yellow toadstool on line today which so intrigued me, I went outside to search for some in my own yard. What I found instead, was a tiny growth of bittersweet, a weed vine which seems to be everywhere at this time of year. It occured to me, as I was taking the photograph, how appropriate was the name of this shrub. It is so cheerful to behold with its bright red and yellow berries and yet it comes at a time of year when we are putting the joys of summer behind us and preparing for a long, cold winter. The very season is bitter, sweet. We do have positive things to look forward to. Surely the colors of autumn are gorgeous to behold. The children are agog at the propect of Halloween and the celebrations and parties and costumes that go with that holiday. Thanksgiving, that family time devoted to cooking and then over-eating will soon be upon us, followed rapidly by Christmas then New Years. The cheery scenes conjured up by the mention of holidays are overshadowed, however, by the thought of slippery roadways and icy sidewalks, chill winds and freezing rain lashing at our faces and penetrating our coats and scarves. Winter can be a miserable time of year here in New England. Yet, as unpleasant as those foul weather memories are, I also recall crisp, cold nights with snow falling silently or bright sunny days with ice making the trees look like glass sculptures. Truly, bittersweet is an apt title for this colorful little harbinger of winter.

It is now day thirteen of the diet/exercise regimen. I failed badly over the weekend by not walking and eating picnic food on Saturday and restaurant food on Sunday. I've also been eating a lot of wrong things on my own time. Some anonymous someone left me a half dozen ears of native corn on the cob while I was out Saturday. I've always had an aversion to waste, so I've been incorporating that corn into my meals that I have cooked for myself. The last of it will be gone today along with the Amerrican chop suey I made out of the hamburger I had to cook Monday. The only part of the diet I have been able to stick to is the oatmeal and fruit breakfast. Oh...and I haven't been snacking at all.
Oh please, let the sun come out soon!