I don’t care how hot it gets outside…summer is my favorite season of the year!

But living in the northeast of the United States, I get to experience all four seasons rather decisively. And that is the wonder I am choosing this week.

Summertime here can be a crazy event.  Not only do we get immense sunlight and great warmth, we also get impressively powerful storms and flooding rains.  Despite the heat and humidity, summer is my favorite season.  I love being able to wear shorts and t-shirts and sandals regularly.  And being solar powered, I love all the sunlight the summer presents me.

Yes, it can be muggy and overly hot, but I still love the summer best.  Summer is also the season of camping events and outdoor picnics and plenty of hiking and beachgoing opportunities.

Summer of course gives way to fall.  Autumn here on the east coast presents some of the most beautiful color you can imagine.  As the leaves turn, the greenery gives way to oranges and reds and yellows and outright golds.  The air begins to take on a crisp tinge, the shorts get put away, and for a lot of people it is the most comfortable time of the year to play outdoors.

Fall is the time of harvest, in particular apples and pumpkins.  My friends and I annually go apple picking, savoring the numerous varieties local orchards have to offer.  And all the crisps and pies and other treats one can make from apples are pretty impressive, too.

Fall moves on to winter.  Winter in this part of the northeastern United States is relatively mild.  (I emphasize the phrase ‘relatively’ because I grew up in the upper Midwest of the country.  We measure snow most winters in FEET, not inches.  And I am not making up tall tales when I say I had to walk to school in BELOW ZERO (Fahrenheit) temperatures and even more brutal windchills).

It can be cold and icy at times, but snowfall is almost always a beautiful sight to behold.  Those unique flakes, drifting gently downwards, covering the land in a white blanket.  While not all the bodies of water here ice over completely, those that do take on a unique hue only an icy cover can give.

Winter is the best time of the year for cuddling with loved ones.  Winter is crackling fires in the fireplace, mugs of hot cocoa and fresh baked goods.  Many people take immense pleasure in all the ways one can use to get warm.

I will not deny winter is my least favorite season.  But in time, it fades, and spring returns life to the land.  Trees begin to bud, the birds return from their migratory vacations, the grass begins to recolor itself from brown to green.

We find we can take off layers, the sun has greater effect and adds warmth to the air once more.  There is a smell in the air at springtime that is refreshing, reinvigorating. It is like you can smell the rebirth of Gaia’s children, and the promise of longer, warmer days to come.

Spring of course completes the cycle, and after three months or so becomes once more Summertime!  And where I live, we truly experience each of these incredible wonders, each season in its time, and all that they can be.

This is just one incredible wonder of our wondrous world – the seasons.  Which is your favorite?

 

I am MJ Blehart, writer of “Wednesday’s Wondrous World”.  Every week I share a wonder of this amazing world, and I hope you will enjoy the journey with me!

Check out my blog, The Ramblings of a Titanium Don, for more of my work.

Also now available, Pathwalking: A 21st Century Philosophy in Book and Kindle form!