33  82%  38%  0mph windroseE  dewpoint28  bar steady  Ordinary Time New Moon

First snow.  After a scatter of flakes, a beady snow dropped onto our deck, bouncing before it came to a rest.  Didn’t last long, but it was enough.  This first snow has a magical quality, a true signal that the theatre of the seasons has changed scenes and scenery.  Clouds give the day an intimate quality, the sky closer to the earth.  The brown of dead lives and withered perennials has small shadows of white. 

This is the time the evergreens begin to stand out.  The pachysandra on the third tier under the Colorado Spruce is a nest of shiny green leaves; the cedar trees in our woods stand tall, their flat needles green against the leafless oaks, big-tooth aspens, ash and black locust.

In my northern heart this time, called by the Celts Samain, through to Imbolc, the time when lambs came into the belly in old Ireland, around February 1st, defines me and those who live here.  This is our time as summer is the time of Southern California and Arizona, Texas and New Mexico.   Part of it is because of what we endure, for them the heat and aridity, for us, the cold and the snow, but it is more, much more, than that.  It is the difference between cranking up the snowblower and pushing the button on a power boat, between walking through knee deep snow, exhilirated, and walking through 107 heat refreshed by the mists from those outdoor cooling devices.  To my northern heart exhiliration trumps wilting in the heat; but I know that’s my bias, a bias not shared by the hundreds, thousands of Minnesotans who become snowbirds each winter, migrating to warmer climes.

 28 75% 36% dew point21 bar falls 0mph windrose N Ordinary Time Waning Crescent Blood Moon New Moon in 1 days

Today I finished creating files for the major magazine markets for science fiction and fantasy, the kind of material I write. Over the next few days I will finish edits for all my stories on hand and match them with the markets. A high number of the magazines only accept submissions by e-mail. This makes the whole process easier for me. This feels like work, slogging through the tall grass, but it also feels good. The way it works is this: write, revise, rewrite, submit. Repeat. I’ve primarily done part 1, write. Adding the other three will turn me into a professional. About time.
The weather occupies my spare intellectual effort at the moment. I’m trying to learn enough to do my own forecasting. I already have a sophisticated weather station and subscriptions to a professional weather service and an amateur weathercasters website. A book written by Tim Vasquez, Weather Forecasting, contains the preliminary information. It’s somewhat complicated, but I need the challenge.  
The forecasting occupies a part of my growing interest in understanding my locale, right here. I’ve spent some time on the soil, what’s beneath the surface and what grows from it. I’ve learned some about the geology and the hydrology, but very little about the meteorology. So, I plan to remedy that.
Kate earned a big, honking bonus over the last quarter and she’s like a kid in a candy store. It’s fun to see her so excited.