Cleveland's Changing Seasons
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What must it be like to live in a climate that is always hot or cold? I don't think I'd like it. Cleveland's weather is always a surprise, stimulating and never boring.

Fall is in the air. Put up the storm windows, check out the furnace, bring out the jackets and rakes, and take down the summer decorations inside and outdoors.

Put away the lawn mower and bring out the snowblowers and shovels. Have the car winterized. You animals! Stop shedding your fur!

Did you notice how mean and cold Lake Erie is getting?

The turning of the leaves is one of the greatest perks we have. Cleveland is known as the Forest City and in the fall the colors are spectacular.

Several years ago I heard that a group of people from a country with a hot climate came here in the fall and thought the world was ending because the leaves were falling off the trees. Each year God really outdoes the year before in it's entire splendor!

It's clambake time - that chowder can't possibly taste as good on a hot day! Our sports turn to indoor ones like Volleyball and Basketball. Bowling leagues start up. You just have to have brisk weather for football, not to mention skiing and ice-skating.

As the temperature dips at night we all await the first frost, taking in our plants and greedily waiting for "Indian summer". That's the time when the temperatures soar for about a week giving us one last glimpse of summer.

We were lucky this year on Halloween. I'm sure the trick-or-treaters didn't appreciate the nice temperatures as much as their parents who had to escort them around.

Better prepare for winter; bring down the heavy quilts and afghans. If it snows measurably before Thanksgiving we feel cheated. What do the wooly bears predict? It's time for the stews and soups, for cuddling around the fireplace wrapped in your teams (Go Browns, Go Tribe, Go Cavs!) throws.

Hustle and bustle in the store for the holidays wouldn't seem the same if we were wearing short and no boots or gloves. It is a unwritten law that everyone looses at least one glove during the shopping season. Snow for Christmas……enough said.

Then just when we start to become bored with winter, the ground hog watches for his shadow and at the most we have 6 more weeks of winter. We can handle that.

Then as Easter approaches the tulips and daffodils start to appear. If they had been here all year how could we fully appreciate them? April showers bring May flowers: Is this saying only for us Northerners?

It's getting hot: take down the storms, open the screens, fill the pool, let's barbeque, picnic and play baseball. The lake is warming and the boats are coming out. Bring the volleyball games outdoors to the sand.

Like everything else you have to have change in order to appreciate what you have.

As we have all said many times and for many reasons this is indeed the "best location in the nation".

Please remind me of this when the car is skidding, the snow is knee deep, the heating bill comes in, and I loose my favorite gloves.

How do you feel about it?

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Pat