And so the equinox is come and gone, the harvest moon is soon to be full and we are reminded that dread winter is just around the corner. In much of the US last year the winter was a mild one, in fact in Florida it was like an English summer, all of which makes everyone think that we are in for a heavy one this time. Of course I shall do my best to minimize my exposure to it as I have arranged to spend three months in Sarasota, starting December 1. Anyone who actually reads this blog will know of my love affair with Sarasota, and they will also realize that this love is an inconstant thing, since I pick up and leave her at the approach of spring in Tuscany.  I have been fortunate to have made some special friends in Sarasota; it is people like these that make life an enjoyable adventure. On a lighter note, there I have made the acquaintance of a barber, and for this I have to thank my friend Zsuzsa, who seems to be very much aware of the doings in the town. This barber, whose name happens also to be Mike, is one of life’s characters. He has a wicked sense of humor and you always have to be on your guard for his very personal barbs, some of which you don’t see coming until it is too late. His other job is that of announcer and caller at the Sarasota greyhound racing stadium; I have never heard his performance there, but I would wager that he is very funny; I must go during my next sojourn in Florida.  Another part of Mike’s charm is that he charges me the princely sum of just $9 for making my head and beard look respectable; my barber in Bowling Green, another comedian, charges $21 for the same treatment.

Last night (Saturday) Emily and I went to the season-opening concert of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra-yes, there is such a thing. It was an all Rachmaninoff affair, the 3^rd symphony and the 2^nd piano concerto. I had thought, when first seeing the announcement that it was the other way round, i.e., the 2^nd symphony and the 3^rd piano concerto-a little bit of dyslexia, presumably a fragment of my advancing senility. I have a particular fancy for the 2nd piano concerto with its haunting C minor passages. Regardless, we both enjoyed the performance; it was a pleasant daughter-father interlude. The piano soloist was a young Croatian lady, name of Martina Filjak, and if you have the opportunity to attend one of her concerts, my advice is to do so, she is dynamite!

Another event that has given me a lot of pleasure of late is that I changed my car; I loved my Pontiac G6, but after five years she was becoming a little worn around the edges. So, on an impulse I went out looking and I did not have to go far before I had fallen in love again, this time with a 2013 Hyundai Genesis Coupe, beautiful styling, modern comfort and amazing performance from a 2 liter, turbo-charged engine. Here she is perched on my driveway for your admiration.

Finally I leave you with a poem that I wrote a couple of weeks ago in a, perhaps poignant, memory of a beautiful summer…

At Summer’s End

Fair August now has slipped away

And autumn steals in ‘ere we know

From cool September nights we rise

To dewy morns whereon we find

Autumn now before our eyes

 

Say not farewell to summer’s blooms

Stay! Wide trumpets of Hibiscus

Carpels proud out-thrust you lure

A belated pollinator

Bustling by to make detour

 

Like silent shroud upon the land

There loiters eerie cloak of mist

Lit now by feeble borrowed glow

Of silver waning crescent moon

Softly lighting all below

 

Green shoots that early showed in spring

Thro’ summer’s months grew tall and silked

Corn that withstood rain’s harsh cascade

Is now stiffly dry and brindled

Ready for the reaper’s blade

 

With mournful honk ungainly geese

In ragged vees fly overhead

Directing soon their compass steer

Toward the south and warmer days

Quitting winter’s icy mere

 

Though summer’s long, now school’s back in

And yellow buses ply the streets

With bulging packs on tender spines

Close-clumped kids wait for bus to take

Them to their school’s snug confines

 

And so we welcome season new

In fervent hope it long stays bright

And warding year-end’s frigid air

Until it nothing more can do

And we lapse to winter’s lair