Winter

Last week it was light when I woke up at 6:30, the gift of Standard Time after several weeks of getting up in the dark. This morning it was dark again. Heavy rain clouds were hoarding morning, carrying it on their backs like the pools of water on a kappa's head.

Friday morning it was fall: crisp air, fog, brilliant leaves everywhere. By Friday afternoon it was dark and cold, that damp, bone-biting chill that Portlanders know as winter. I've seen seasons change overnight before, but never in the middle of the day.

Now the trees are nearly stripped, and the leaves coat the sidewalks with sodden brown mush. They're talking about a chance of snow by midweek. Five weeks to solstice, then the long upward turn of the year begins again.

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