An Appropriate Ending to the Year

It’s all over the news today: the last day of the old year is going to be cold. No, let me rephrase that: COLD!! German women’s magazine freundin even has a featurette on its homepage about how one might stay safe in December’s freezing grasp. I don’t understand all the hullaballoo. It’s winter. Of course it’s cold. And I’m enjoying it. Because, after all, it is a dryyy cold (talk to someone from Arizona to explain how to properly say that. They have a dryyyy heat). There’s very little worse than that clamminess that creeps into your bones when it’s cold and wet outside. People seem to get sick faster. And I myself never want to be in it for long.

But there’s a special quality to that crisp wintery air out there right now. If you’ve ever licked a fresh icycle, you’ll detect that same cool promise of snow in the skies. The air bears a crispness that is only rivalled by the wonderful sound of snow crunching under foot. Sadly, we have to do without the latter for the moment. But winter is still young.

So while this may not have been the best year or the most exciting year or even simply a good year, I thank the weather gods for this lovely gift on this 31st of December. Yes, there is definitely promise in the air. To all of you, all the best. Stay safe tonight. I’ll see you in 2009.

Fall Smells

I considered for a brief moment whether I should just come out with it and title this post fall stinks, but since the results of the sniffer jury were about six to two, that would have been overkill. Which brings me to the first mis-scent of the day: what on Earth did our cleaning lady use to clean the bathrooms this morning? It smelled like wet roadkill in there, or possibly fungus-infested rags, which are extremely surprising for her. The other one who cleaned here while Ms. U. was on vacation, not so much, but surely not Ms. U. herself…

The second wave of stink hit me as I crossed the street to visit the shoppette. I don’t know what it might have been, but the whole outdoors smelled like a giant pile of rotting garbage. A few minutes and well-placed gusts of wind later, and it was gone.

Luckily, lovely scents abound today, starting from that fresh coffee in the morning and extending down to the minty gum I’m chewing right now, by way of hot chocolate (mmmmh) and spicy chili (soul warmer as well as belly heater). The other day in the forest it smelled like wet bark and leaves and soil from a big dip next to the path where logs had been stored over the summer. And last night, the smell of the fresh hay was just wonderful after I cleaned Louie’s cage, although that’s not really a fall scent. He always smells like that, it’s just the way he is.

I’m looking forward to more olfactory adventures.