We are headed to VT a week from today. I can already hear the loons. Word from the Coffey’s is that we have had a black bear in the area all summer long. There are a couple of cabins for sale on the pond this year….
Fall is a glorious gift from God. My favorite time of year, almost an oasis from the heat and fatigue of summer….
Football, Zoe, cool nights and warm days, beautiful things in the world to photograph in brilliant hues, football, Zoe….
I too am not a fan of August. It signals the arrival of seasonal allergies for me….Yuck!
On another note……heard about this on our local talk radio show today. You can send someone a phone message from Samuel L. Jackson from the Snakes on a Plane web site. Here is the link: http://snakesonaplane.varitalk.com/
I can see, rather hear it now. Phone calls with Cope’s voice recorded to get people to attend the next ZOE conference. Hmmm…..this could be fun.
My favorite day of the year usually happens in the Memphis area sometime late in September. About that time the first cold front finally makes it through. When you walk out in the morning the air is cool and the humidity is way down and you know fall is beginning. August just about does me in. This year has seen 100 degree day after day. I know it gets hotter in Texas, but the humidity is awful here. I am glad that I live in a place where there are four distinct seasons. Having said all of this I am just glad to be alive after undergoing quadruple bypass surgury in 2005 any day, no matter how hot, is a pretty good day.
I completely identify, Mike. I’ve got several sweaters waiting impatiently to be put back into use.
To me, there are few moments as pleasant as getting up on a cool fall morning, putting on a sweatshirt, pouring a hot cup of coffee and walking down the driveway for the morning paper. Just one of those simple pleasures that can brighten a day.
It’s hard to get excited about fall when it’s so beautiful right now. The weather here in Michigan has been absolutely delightful the last couple of weeks. But, it won’t be long until I’m freezing and those of you who are boiling up right now will be enjoying milder temperatures. It all seems to even out in the end.
am fall, not summer. YEP!
Cool, not hot. Double YEP!!
Mountains, not beach. Either one, as long as it’s cool.
“Sunrise, not sunset.” Rarely ever see the former, love the latter.
“Morning, not night.” NOPE, inverse action for me!!
“Fall back, not spring forward.” When we Fall back, I’ll post what I wrote in April about time changes.
Summer in Abilene is SADD time for me. Being closed up in the house, blinds closed, drapes/curtains drawn - why can’t we enjoy some of all that sunshine out there? Because it’s STILL over 100 degrees out there. GRRRRRRR!!!
Fall has always been my favorite season of the year, except for those times I’ve been below the Equator and then it’s Springtime that’s so enjoyable.
But I tell you, if it doesn’t begin to cool down here in hot, hot Abilene, I’m moving into HEB’s cold storage freezer.
I understand what Donald Miller means in “Blue Like Jazz” when he says “In the winter it is easier for me to believe in God.”
Well, for me that time is Fall. Maybe it is the leaves changing or the cool air that’s “just right” and a “perfect relief from the summer’s heat.”
Probably it has more to do with football than anything else. Not that God is in football, but that’s when I am growing in my relationships with my firends. Every Saturday is more than just NCAA events - its time to flourish in community.
90’s in the afternoon and
50’s in the morning,
sometimes it seems oh so boring,
along come the 100’s and
80’s in the morning
too hot for everyone
they started complaining
Delta Breeze, Delta Breeze
where are you, I miss the sniffles
you bring with you.
Delta breeze blowing,
Modesto cools down,
90’s in the afternoon,
50’s in the morning
it’s not so boring
Sir, I would like to read the blog that involves the phrase in which you said (as I was told) that you were upset at Harding for not “coming over:, but that when they got to ACU they would be won over. You mention several colleges and how many you have won over to accept things the way you feel they should be. Thank you for your time.
Interesting how where we live shapes our perspectives.
Summer in Southern California is a great time. I love the longer days, I love the warm sunshine, I love the slower pace of life (including the less crowded freeways), I love the increase in family time once our girls are out of school, I love times at Yosemite or the beach, I love our vacations. Summer for me is a time to breathe, to be refreshed, to renew the springs of creativity and vitality.
Fall for us signals an uptick in business: soccer four or five days a week, getting up for school each morning, more committee meetings, less time to reflect, more rigid schedules, more urgent deadlines, less family cohesion.
Fall still is a wonderful season for all the reasons others have shared, but put me down as a summer lover.
No, except to say that I have been reading your blog for a long time now and I don’t recall anything remotely resembling her accusations. In fact, from what I know about you, her claim would be completely out of character for you. I just can’t imagine where that might have come from.
Congratulations! I did not know you had so much power you could win Universities over. It is also amazing to think that it wasn’t until your arrival at ACU that they began to change. Maybe it is your radical, intellectual demeanor.
Nita may have picked up a quote (or misquote) from another blog attributed to you.
Here at Harding, one of the football coaches was telling me about a freshman coming in from Alaska, who had called him earlier in the summer and told him he was ready for two-a-day practices because it had been a hot summer up there. Over 80 degrees. He didn’t have the heart to tell him it was 108 here and 90% humidity.
maybe the request was referring to your June 12 blog called Signs of Hope. You kind of give a breakdown of the state of some of the Christian universities. You didn’t use the phrase she quotes, but maybe it was misconstrued.
I’d certainly like to “win over” the head bill collector at ACU ;-). I like all weather in moderation - nothing moderate about August in Texas. True story - when I was 14 my parents were insane enough to let me and a buddy ride our bikes from ACU to Westgate Mall on Labor Day, so this was about 1975. A severe coldfront blew through and we rode our bikes home into a 25 mph wind out of the north, and the temp. that day dropped to some kind of absurd record low like 50.
All I can say is that of all the places I’ve lived, for the Spring, Summer, and Fall, I like Michigan the best. It’s just that those other ten months are so long…
Grant and I always laughed when we lived in Atlanta and people joked about it being “Hot-lanta”. Clearly, those complaining when the temperatures got into the 90s hadn’t experienced Texas summers. I can’t think of the last day that didn’t get into the 100s. I don’t care how little humidity there is… over 100 is over 100! Somehow in Abilene we got ripped off in the seasons department.
Anyone else feeling a little faint? I was actually thinking of my reaction when I opened our last electric bill.
Thanks, Dana. Possible right. Here’s what I said about Harding on June 12:
“While I continue to be sad about the insular world the current administration of Harding has woven (Again I ask: How can Jeff Walling, as one of many examples, be banned from speaking on campus? He’s been impacting teens and university students all over the country for decades.), the school continues to send out young men and women to plant churches across the states and around the world. Harding students who come to ACU’s graduate school have been challenged (by Cox, Cochran, Fortner, etc.) to live radical lives of discipleship on behalf of the world.”
When I say that Harding students have been challenged to live radical lives of discipleship on behalf of the world, I mean that as a compliment.
My postition is, and has been since a year ago in July when I ventured out there to visit my mom and sister for the first time in a long time in the middle of the summer, that Abilene is an outback station located on the edge of the sun.
I mean - I love it and all - came back this July, as a matter of fact. But no one can tell us south Mississippi folk that “dry” heat is much more bearable that “humid” heat. Heat’s heat. Choice between a sauna and an oven.
But you all just don’t know how gloriously you have it there in Abilene with such a cloud of Christians surrounding you. Marvelous place!
I lived 51 years in Michigan and almost 9 in Atlanta. I still love the Big Island of Hawaii anytime. The Caribbean is hard to beat too- anytime. Germany in May is great too. Oh, yeah, Atlanta over those awful Michigan winters too.
I don’t think we get fall here in Tucson. Right after we moved here two and a half years ago I read this is the paper - “Tucson has four seasons - almost summer, summer, still summer and construction”. The best part of summer here is that the traffic is less because the snow birds are gone. I am a native Californian - southern and I agree it is the best place to be for weather, but it is cheaper to love in Tucson.
Anyway, I love Spring in Texas, and Autumn nearly anywhere else.
I remember my older son’s reaction the first time he saw fall foliage during a trip to Asheville, North Carolina. He thought the trees were “ugry” because they were the wrong color.
Nita, if you hung around, I hope the references to the June 12th article answered your question.
YOU ARE SO ME.
We are headed to VT a week from today. I can already hear the loons. Word from the Coffey’s is that we have had a black bear in the area all summer long. There are a couple of cabins for sale on the pond this year….
Fall is a glorious gift from God. My favorite time of year, almost an oasis from the heat and fatigue of summer….
Football, Zoe, cool nights and warm days, beautiful things in the world to photograph in brilliant hues, football, Zoe….
Oh and did I say football and Zoe?????
I always get excited at the change of the seasons. I think the break of a new season is my favorite time of the year.
We have two seasons in southeast Texas. Hot and humid, and not so hot and humid.
I too am not a fan of August. It signals the arrival of seasonal allergies for me….Yuck!
On another note……heard about this on our local talk radio show today. You can send someone a phone message from Samuel L. Jackson from the Snakes on a Plane web site. Here is the link: http://snakesonaplane.varitalk.com/
I can see, rather hear it now. Phone calls with Cope’s voice recorded to get people to attend the next ZOE conference. Hmmm…..this could be fun.
You are cool.
why not make haiku
a contest of your readers
to describe themselves?
My favorite day of the year usually happens in the Memphis area sometime late in September. About that time the first cold front finally makes it through. When you walk out in the morning the air is cool and the humidity is way down and you know fall is beginning. August just about does me in. This year has seen 100 degree day after day. I know it gets hotter in Texas, but the humidity is awful here. I am glad that I live in a place where there are four distinct seasons. Having said all of this I am just glad to be alive after undergoing quadruple bypass surgury in 2005 any day, no matter how hot, is a pretty good day.
I completely identify, Mike. I’ve got several sweaters waiting impatiently to be put back into use.
To me, there are few moments as pleasant as getting up on a cool fall morning, putting on a sweatshirt, pouring a hot cup of coffee and walking down the driveway for the morning paper. Just one of those simple pleasures that can brighten a day.
Colorado
Not Abilene
Not Hot Abilene
60 Today
Coolness
Sorry Mike, couldn’t resist. Just following Don’s suggestion.
There once was a season named summer
Who was so hot twas a bummer
He said to them all
Who wished for the fall
If you think it’ll different in Abilene, you couldn’t be dumber.
Yah I wrote it.
It’s hard to get excited about fall when it’s so beautiful right now. The weather here in Michigan has been absolutely delightful the last couple of weeks. But, it won’t be long until I’m freezing and those of you who are boiling up right now will be enjoying milder temperatures. It all seems to even out in the end.
am fall, not summer. YEP!
Cool, not hot. Double YEP!!
Mountains, not beach. Either one, as long as it’s cool.
“Sunrise, not sunset.” Rarely ever see the former, love the latter.
“Morning, not night.” NOPE, inverse action for me!!
“Fall back, not spring forward.” When we Fall back, I’ll post what I wrote in April about time changes.
Summer in Abilene is SADD time for me. Being closed up in the house, blinds closed, drapes/curtains drawn - why can’t we enjoy some of all that sunshine out there? Because it’s STILL over 100 degrees out there. GRRRRRRR!!!
Fall has always been my favorite season of the year, except for those times I’ve been below the Equator and then it’s Springtime that’s so enjoyable.
But I tell you, if it doesn’t begin to cool down here in hot, hot Abilene, I’m moving into HEB’s cold storage freezer.
I understand what Donald Miller means in “Blue Like Jazz” when he says “In the winter it is easier for me to believe in God.”
Well, for me that time is Fall. Maybe it is the leaves changing or the cool air that’s “just right” and a “perfect relief from the summer’s heat.”
Probably it has more to do with football than anything else. Not that God is in football, but that’s when I am growing in my relationships with my firends. Every Saturday is more than just NCAA events - its time to flourish in community.
Maybe… Maybe not….
90’s in the afternoon and
50’s in the morning,
sometimes it seems oh so boring,
along come the 100’s and
80’s in the morning
too hot for everyone
they started complaining
Delta Breeze, Delta Breeze
where are you, I miss the sniffles
you bring with you.
Delta breeze blowing,
Modesto cools down,
90’s in the afternoon,
50’s in the morning
it’s not so boring
Sir, I would like to read the blog that involves the phrase in which you said (as I was told) that you were upset at Harding for not “coming over:, but that when they got to ACU they would be won over. You mention several colleges and how many you have won over to accept things the way you feel they should be. Thank you for your time.
Interesting how where we live shapes our perspectives.
Summer in Southern California is a great time. I love the longer days, I love the warm sunshine, I love the slower pace of life (including the less crowded freeways), I love the increase in family time once our girls are out of school, I love times at Yosemite or the beach, I love our vacations. Summer for me is a time to breathe, to be refreshed, to renew the springs of creativity and vitality.
Fall for us signals an uptick in business: soccer four or five days a week, getting up for school each morning, more committee meetings, less time to reflect, more rigid schedules, more urgent deadlines, less family cohesion.
Fall still is a wonderful season for all the reasons others have shared, but put me down as a summer lover.
Wake me up when August ends.
Anyone have any clue what Nita is talking about?
Duh???????? Who knows???????
No, except to say that I have been reading your blog for a long time now and I don’t recall anything remotely resembling her accusations. In fact, from what I know about you, her claim would be completely out of character for you. I just can’t imagine where that might have come from.
Mike, I always wonder what the students/freshmen from the other areas of the country thing about Abilene when they arrive in August.
Well at least you’re right about fall back, not spring forward. Although I do admit I’m looking forward to the colors and crispness of fall.
Perhaps Nita was refering to SoulForce? I think they didn’t go to Harding, but did go to ACU. That’s all I’ve got!
No - I just re-read her questions & I don’t think that’s it either. Sounds like someone else quoted you & got it WRONG!
Mike,
Congratulations! I did not know you had so much power you could win Universities over. It is also amazing to think that it wasn’t until your arrival at ACU that they began to change. Maybe it is your radical, intellectual demeanor.
Nita may have picked up a quote (or misquote) from another blog attributed to you.
Wow — I’m going to try commenting on the weather on my blog and see what I can get accused of!
Here at Harding, one of the football coaches was telling me about a freshman coming in from Alaska, who had called him earlier in the summer and told him he was ready for two-a-day practices because it had been a hot summer up there. Over 80 degrees. He didn’t have the heart to tell him it was 108 here and 90% humidity.
maybe the request was referring to your June 12 blog called Signs of Hope. You kind of give a breakdown of the state of some of the Christian universities. You didn’t use the phrase she quotes, but maybe it was misconstrued.
Just a thought.
I’d certainly like to “win over” the head bill collector at ACU ;-). I like all weather in moderation - nothing moderate about August in Texas. True story - when I was 14 my parents were insane enough to let me and a buddy ride our bikes from ACU to Westgate Mall on Labor Day, so this was about 1975. A severe coldfront blew through and we rode our bikes home into a 25 mph wind out of the north, and the temp. that day dropped to some kind of absurd record low like 50.
All I can say is that of all the places I’ve lived, for the Spring, Summer, and Fall, I like Michigan the best. It’s just that those other ten months are so long…
Grant and I always laughed when we lived in Atlanta and people joked about it being “Hot-lanta”. Clearly, those complaining when the temperatures got into the 90s hadn’t experienced Texas summers. I can’t think of the last day that didn’t get into the 100s. I don’t care how little humidity there is… over 100 is over 100! Somehow in Abilene we got ripped off in the seasons department.
Anyone else feeling a little faint? I was actually thinking of my reaction when I opened our last electric bill.
Mark, LOL
You reminded me of my nephew’s answer when I asked him, sometime in December, when is it winter in Texas?
His retort? “The second Tuesday in February.” LOL
Unfortunately, too true.
Thanks, Dana. Possible right. Here’s what I said about Harding on June 12:
“While I continue to be sad about the insular world the current administration of Harding has woven (Again I ask: How can Jeff Walling, as one of many examples, be banned from speaking on campus? He’s been impacting teens and university students all over the country for decades.), the school continues to send out young men and women to plant churches across the states and around the world. Harding students who come to ACU’s graduate school have been challenged (by Cox, Cochran, Fortner, etc.) to live radical lives of discipleship on behalf of the world.”
When I say that Harding students have been challenged to live radical lives of discipleship on behalf of the world, I mean that as a compliment.
“His retort? “The second Tuesday in February.” LOL”
It snowed in Austin on February 3, 1996 - then reached 101 degrees on February 21 of that same year.
My postition is, and has been since a year ago in July when I ventured out there to visit my mom and sister for the first time in a long time in the middle of the summer, that Abilene is an outback station located on the edge of the sun.
I mean - I love it and all - came back this July, as a matter of fact. But no one can tell us south Mississippi folk that “dry” heat is much more bearable that “humid” heat. Heat’s heat. Choice between a sauna and an oven.
But you all just don’t know how gloriously you have it there in Abilene with such a cloud of Christians surrounding you. Marvelous place!
P. S. I DO like fall much better, though!
I lived 51 years in Michigan and almost 9 in Atlanta. I still love the Big Island of Hawaii anytime. The Caribbean is hard to beat too- anytime. Germany in May is great too. Oh, yeah, Atlanta over those awful Michigan winters too.
The colder the better!
I don’t think we get fall here in Tucson. Right after we moved here two and a half years ago I read this is the paper - “Tucson has four seasons - almost summer, summer, still summer and construction”. The best part of summer here is that the traffic is less because the snow birds are gone. I am a native Californian - southern and I agree it is the best place to be for weather, but it is cheaper to love in Tucson.
I had to borrow this poem for my blog =) Bring on Autumn!
Oops - I mean live in Tucson - it may be cheaper to love too.
I tried to post Thursday, but Igot interrupted…
Anyway, I love Spring in Texas, and Autumn nearly anywhere else.
I remember my older son’s reaction the first time he saw fall foliage during a trip to Asheville, North Carolina. He thought the trees were “ugry” because they were the wrong color.
Nita, if you hung around, I hope the references to the June 12th article answered your question.