Indian Winter

This last weekend was a bit different, my son and I attended a science fiction convention, CondorCon. After several very busy weeks at work, I enjoyed the break, getting out and listening to authors talk about writing, watching people dressed up as their favorite characters and stepping back from every day life. We were even blessed with sunny weather, just in time for the convention and any out of town visitors to our fair city.

Meanwhile, time continues to fly by and the seasons advance, sometimes more than one season at a time in this transition from winter to summer. Winter still has a grip, but spring teases, with longer days, perhaps some early flowers. Just as I think that spring is here to stay, winter steps in to slam the door shut and bring back cold, gloomy, and cloudy weather.

I was thinking that in the fall we get Indian summer, a brief time of summer in the middle of the chill of fall before winter settles in and turns the thermostat down to cold, cold temperatures. What about a time of extreme cold in between warming temperatures, would that be called Indian Winter? Or do we try to ignore those cold temperatures while keeping an eye out for spring to finally stop and stay for longer than a few hours or days.

A batch of cold weather, and gray days finished up last week. One evening looked out on our porch and saw it covered with frozen, white clumps, either hail or snow granules.  My son got a photo before it disappeared. The next day, the sun was out and it seemed as if everyone was staring up with puzzled looks wondering what the blue skies and golden light meant. Spring is still here, perhaps we are done with our winter breaks. But March is fickle, I suspect there may be another a few more cold, gray days before winter moves on and spring stays in the house for a while.

Pictures by J.T. Harpster