Beth Lapin

Monday, Cherry and I had planned to hike the Menunkatuck Trail, but we were forced to postpone until next week. Now, here it is, Wednesday, and I’m still struggling to adjust to the change.

It would have been a lovely day for a hike. Sunny and balmy for this time of year. Perhaps it’s the unseasonable weather that has me flummoxed. Southern fronts keep coming, making it warmer outside than inside my house.

Mind you, I am thrilled to be warm and not shovel. It’s the longest Indian Summer I remember and it helps me pretend that a long, cold, lonely winter is not on its way. So, why am I out of joint?

I go for a walk and am startled by the sight of flowering forsythia along my neighbor’s hedge. Have they been lulled by the warmth into considering it spring? What will happen when we get the (inevitable) cold snap?

Or are they taking advantage of a window of opportunity? Ah, a chance, a special opening in the grays of November and dark of December to celebrate, to stretch and grow. To catch up with the last few remaining tasks that didn’t get done in September and get a jump-start on Spring.

Now that feels exciting, motivating, enthralling, inspiring. Forsythia flowers: let’s tidy up our loose ends for 2012 and get a head start on 2013. I’m with you.