If you have taken a stroll through town, chances are you have noticed the leaves have already started to show a familiar hint of yellow and red hues even though the calendar just turned from August to September.
The early risers have perhaps felt it after realizing you left the window open all night and your furnace kicked on? It is way too soon for that nonsense.
But for those native Aroostook County folks, it really should come as no surprise. We have lived through enough seasons to know summer must ultimately give way to fall. But why does it seem every year that the change happens so quickly? Or maybe it is just our perception that changes and it only seems to be happening faster than usual?
Given the fact that 2020 seems to be one of the most upside down years in our history, it really should come as no surprise. We had a significant amount of snowfall in mid-May before giving way to blazing heat a few weeks later. By July, we experienced a record-breaking number of successive days with high temperatures.
August was met with drought conditions for many parts of The County. And, oh yeah, we have also been dealing with a global pandemic.
As much fun as summer normally is, for me personally it was far less enjoyable than normal thanks to an ongoing battle with a leaky pool. I tried every possible combination of sticky substance to plug the leak, all to no avail. I think that guy on the television commercials proclaiming he can stop water from pouring out of a bucket simply by slapping on some tape should have come to my house so I could dunk him in what little water was left in my pool.
When the time came to finally pull the plug on our swimming pool for another year, what is normally a melancholy day was much more upbeat than usual. I may have done a little happy dance as I disconnected the pumps and water began draining from the hole it was supposed to come out of. Finally, the leak will plague me no more.
Fall has long been my favorite season. The vibrant explosion of colors in the trees is something I could look at for hours on end. Autumn’s arrival also heralds the coming of the national football league, which is something I hold in high regard. We actually have a magnet on our refrigerator that reads, “We interrupt this marriage for football season.”
Of course it will be very strange seeing former New England Patriots Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski competing as members of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this season. Maybe there is something to this snowbird mentality after all.
Given all of the other weirdness that has happened this past year, would it surprise anyone if the first snowstorm hit in early October? I guess I had better start clearing out the shed and searching for the snow shovels just to be safe.
Joseph Cyr is the assistant editor/senior reporter for Northeast Publishing, a division of Bangor Daily News. He can be reached at (207) 532-2281 or via email at jcyr@bangordailynews.com.
