Preparations

It has been a sunny and warm early November day in central Virginia. The high temperature was 76°F. In the spring I will have guests from Costa Rica, a Spanish-speaking country, so I want to brush up on my Spanish which I haven't used since high school Spanish class. I'm using a website called Duolingo which hosts free Spanish lessons. In some of the lessons I listen to someone speak in Spanish and then I type what I hear. There are male and female speakers. The man does a halfway good job of pronouncing the words, but when the woman speaks all I hear is "mumble mumble mumble." So I turn the volume up and play the words again, and I hear "MUMBLE, MUMBLE, MUMBLE." Come on, guys, I could make a better recording with an 88 cent microphone available off the Web. But maybe the problem isn't a poor recording; maybe the woman really mumbles.

The threshold of my front door was in poor condition, looking dirty with peeling paint. So I tried to paint it this afternoon. The last time I painted anything around this house was when I moved into the house 17 years ago. I put three coats of paint on all the walls and ceilings, upstairs and downstairs and the connecting stairwell. So painting a threshold should be easy as falling off a log, right? Nope. For one thing, I could locate few of my painting tools. Most of my paint brushes had disappeared. My paint scrapers had disappeared, leaving me with only a 6 inch putty knife for removing loose paint. Then I got white paint on the cement floor of the front porch. Then I got it on my hands. Then I got it on my pants.

When I finished, there was no doubt in my mind that my painting days are behind me. Although, I will admit the threshold does look better, if you don't look too closely. Ironically, my guests may not even see the freshly-painted threshold because I always park in the backyard and enter and leave my house through the back door.

Why did I not think of that earlier?

It's too bad that my guests are not here now, in early November. Late October through early November is the time of year in central Virginia when Nature is prettiest. Yesterday, I had been visiting a friend a few doors down the street from me, and as I left to walk home I snapped two photos with my phone (images below). You're looking down two streets that intersect where I'm standing.

I am lucky to have a friend who lives in a country with only two seasons: rainy and not-rainy. I see Nature's artistry every day, and sometimes it helps if another person reminds me of the beauty around me. It is easy to take that beauty for granted. I have to stop and look at my world to really see it.

The high temperature today was 76°F. Tomorrow will be another sunny day with a high temperature of 79°. We will have more warm weather, but Nature is in the process of preparing for cold, because cold is coming. The cold has to come because if it didn't, how could we have spring? How could we appreciate spring?

I am preparing my house for guests. Nature is preparing my world for a new cycle of sleep and rebirth. With luck, I'll have an opportunity to see both.