Equinox, State of the Blog

Today’s the Equinox. Like the Solstice, this is probably a good checkpoint to look around, think about the blog, and where it’s going.

I love light in general and sun in particular. And when the nights get longer than the days, it’s hard for me to get excited. The world’s long since woken up, the living year’s drawing to a close, and except for a few more weeks of great colors, the show’s pretty much over. Even way back when, long before I blogged or knew much about plants, or even paid much attention to the natural world in general, I was always kind of bummed about Fall. I’m not sure exactly why, but I suspect it may be some combination of the following:

A Whiny, Poorly-Ordered List

1- I associate Fall with returning to school. I hated school. Grade school, Junior High, High School, College. Hated them all. Couldn’t wait to get out.

2- My ancestry is largely Mediterranean. The last few hundred or so generations of my ancestors were born and lived their lives in warm, sunny places. Deep inside me, some part of me remembers my ancestral homeland and is saddened to find itself in an environment so cold and alien. (Actually, though I love the pseudo-historic melodrama of this “theory”, I think it’s probably total BS, and that #6 (below) is a much simpler and likelier explanation. Besides, I’m also ½ English, and that place is perpetually cold, damp and generally sucky climate-wise.)

3- I get bummed when I can’t bike. (Plus racing season is over)

4- I think about all the great trips I never got around to doing over the summer.

5- I’m a perpetually lame skier

6- I’m kind of a pussy about the cold.

OK, so what does this whining have to do with the blog? Here’s what: When I started this thing, I sort of loosely planned to go to the Solstice and then wrap it up. Then I got to the Solstice, and saw it made more sense to continue to the Equinox. Now I’m at the Equinox, and I’m leaning towards continuing. Not because the world is still waking up- but because doing the blog has forced me to pay attention to and learn about so many things I otherwise would have put off or blown off, and in not putting/blowing them off, I’ve probably learned more about the natural world around me than in any previous year. So maybe if I keep doing the blog, and thereby continuing to force myself to pay attention to and understand the world around me, I might not dislike the late Fall quite as much.

Besides, really, what the hell else do I have going on?