November 9, 2020
The end of fómhar
It feels like we’re right on the cusp of the change of seasons, and yesterday was the last day of autumn. Yesterday was gorgeous here in Portland - crisp, clear, colorful. Today though it’s grey and overcast, and looking ahead the forecast is for 14 straight days with a near-uniform profile: a high of 50, a low of 40, overcast, with showers or rain each day. Not conditions that Team Anderson finds all that attractive for cycling, frankly.
I was surprised to see that there are multiple definitions for the start and end of each season. The one I’m most familiar with is based on the Astronomical Calendar: autumn begins with the autumn equinox and ends with winter solstice. Under this calendar, this year winter starts at about 10 AM on December 21st. This has always felt daft to me. By mid-December it feels to me like it’s been cold and rainy forever already.
The Meteorological Calendar feels more natural to me. Seasons are precisely three months long, and aligned to the months. Autumn in the Meteorological Calendar consists of September, October and November. Still though - three weeks of cold, wet weather ahead and we haven’t even gotten to winter yet? Yuk.
There’s a third interpretation available though: the Irish Calendar. Its view of the seasons is based on the pre-Roman Celtic Calendar, and defines autumn (in Irish, fómhar) as consisting of August, September and October. Today, this feels perfect. It’s the end of fómhar already, and we’re over a week into geimhreadh (winter). I’m part Irish so I’m told, so I’ll follow the Irish Calendar and look forward to an early spring next year - February 1st, when we’ll be 10 days into a new presidency already.
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Our habits are bending to the seasons, and we’re turning opportunistic. When the day looks promising enough, we’ll hop on the bikes; and when it doesn’t we’ll take walks when we can, or just hunker down. Three days ago it was overcast with a threat of rain, so Rachael went for a walk in Washington Park and returned with a glorious portfolio. I don’t remember what I did then, but whatever it was I should have joined her instead.
The day before yesterday (the day the networks called the race for Biden) was much more promising. Partly sunny and slightly warmer, so Rachael hopped on her bike and headed for the Columbia River. I decided to wait for the day to warm up a bit first and lazed around for another two hours before setting off on my own ride, with Kelley Point in mind. I didn’t get far though - it was still surprisingly cold and damp, and the sky actually looked threatening. I skipped the idea of a ride and decided I’d really be happier heading over to Lucky Lab and exulting over the days news with a slice of pizza and a porter. the right call, this time.
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Yesterday though, there was no question. The weather was fantastic, if cold. We waited until midday for the sun to fully break through and then rode off together for a loop to Kelley Point. At only 26 miles it was somewhat shorter than we’d intended, but otherwise perfect. Too cold to stop for many photos, so mostly we just rode. Beautiful - we won’t see another day like this again soon, I’m sure. The end of autumn.
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Mike
3 years ago
3 years ago
Also, love all the colorful photos! When we were out walking a couple days ago I commented to Ron that we were lucky to see so many colors before the wind whisked them away.
3 years ago