Seasonal Switch Red Alert

Autumn in Late July (7/26/13)

I'm very sensitive to weather changes and seasons. Living in the Chicago area, I get to see extremes in weather in a matter of hours. This can be tricky.

I first noticed that the summer season was beginning to change, or on its way out, starting in late July.

We were taking a family walk on July 26 when I noticed a nearby tree started dropping leaves left, right, and center. Prematurely. A hot, dry July and early August led to a lot of trees shedding leaves a little early.

I wasn't sure how to feel about it, so I decided to put it out of my mind.

Last week was the official switch over. This time, I couldn't really disregard it. Mother Nature was speaking loud and clear. We experienced 90F (a historical

Summer Contrasts (9/3/13)

heat record) on Monday and moved down to 63F on Friday. That's a huge change, yeah?

I start feeling a little detached and unmotivated around this time of year. I don't really start getting more motivated or in a brighter mood until late spring. It's kind of a long stretch.

I'm going to continue taking lots of walks whenever I can. Even if it's just walking around the mall to do some window watching, whenever the weather doesn't cooperate. It sort of helps.