Last of Summer

This had to be the perfect summer. Like Berkshire summers of old. The temperature never got to 90 until about the middle of August. We went from a beautiful Memorial Day weekend to a beautiful Labor Day weekend. And the last weekend of summer -- just before the Autumn Equinox -- was a gorgeous fall weekend, cool and sunny, with a crystalline blue sky. Now, as September nears its close, we're starting to feel a chill in the air. Conditions are ideal for a spectacular foliage display this year, following the ample rains of spring and summer. The NY State Foliage Forecast predicts that peak foliage in New York City will occur around the last week of October.

While the weather here has been near classic, other parts of the country have not been so lucky. Texans for example, suffered through an unusually hot summer of temps in the high 90's. The state is now in a permanent drought. California cities stayed cool this summer, from San Francisco all the way down to San Diego. But they are having water problems in that state and now have a "permanent fire season". Speaking of which, Atlanta has been flooded with incessant, driving 24-hour rainfall for weeks, whereas last year they were in danger of running out of water.