THE SMELL OF FERMENTING FRUIT

People who move to the West Coast often complain about the lack of seasons here. No freezing winters, no blooming spring, no hot hot summers, and no glorious red-leafed fall. It is a character defect of ours, apparently, that we don't all get together and do something about it. Why, if this were New Jersey, we'd force the governor to institute drastic measures so that we would indeed have fall colours and winter snow.


Frankly, I'm rather pleased with the local climate. Sure I miss snow occasionally.
Snow is a great thing to visit..............
But who wants to live there?


And if you desire autumn colours, walk on Clay Street over the top of Nob Hill. The ginkgo trees are turning, and the leaves are layered in pale golden drifts along the sidewalk. In another two months the cold will affect the gingkos on Pacific between Kearny and Grant, and their delicate leaves will cluster in eddies along the wall of the Ping Yuen housing complex.
The lower elevation down there, and shelter from the winds that come off the ocean, has created a slightly different micro-climate.


It isn't that we don't have seasons, it's just that our seasons are more subtle.
We get the point faster than you guys, obviously.
We do not need to be clobbered over the head with bold shifts in weather, and storm conditions, unlike you.

Autumn in San Francisco is just so much more civilized.



The title of this post?

Oh, just remembering fall in Valkenswaard - the thick unkempt grass in backyards, wet with moisture, the fruits that littered the ground, slightly rotten but exuding the smell of sweetness...... and the wet wet leaves beginning to rot. One could easily slip on those gloriously coloured pads, the vermillion and orange underfoot becoming more slicked with each passing day. And all around the fragrance of fallen apples. It was wonderful.