Autumn

Autumn
Someone game us a Cosmopolitan magazine. It was the May issue and said Autumn. I hadn’t really realized that since I was living in the Southern Hemisphere that my seasons are reversed. They say there are two seasons here, the dry season and the wet season. However, I don’t really see a different in the two seasons. It can rain a lot during either season, or have weeks of dry hot heat in both as well. I think they should change the name to Cyclone season and non-cyclone season. It would make more sense to the confused visitor.
A few weeks ago in Apia, Rachel and I were walking down the street near Aggie Grays. All of a sudden, Rachel stopped. ‘It’s autumn. There are a million leaves on the ground.” It was such an amazing site to see. The leaves were of all different colors and I had the sudden urge to rake them up and jump in the piles.
Leaves do change colors here. Only it is usually one leaf at a time. To see so many different leaves on the ground is something abnormal to Samoa. The leaves that I see fall from the trees are usually from the breadfruit tree. Having them fall does not remind me in any way of a crisp fall day. For starters, these leaves are enormous! They are bigger than my body. Secondly, you take notice when they fall. They are heavy enough to make a thump! Also, how can it be a nice cool fall day, when the temperature doesn’t stray too far between hot and extremely hot.
I don’t know if it was a just a rare unusual occurrence but it was nice to see another season for a few minutes.
(Just to side note, winter is approaching, and I love hearing the snow updates in New Zealand. I get chills hearing the temperatures that are hovering near freezing.)