Indian Summer

It's going to be pretty warm here today.  Put my flannel gown away last night as the cool air receded to a later date.  Indian summer is here.

Indian Summer.  Funny, I don't hear it called that much anymore.  Maybe that's because I am a 'city girl' now, and for many here, the changes of the season mean nothing more than a change in wardrobe.  Oh I'm not saying that city folks don't care.  They do.  But it's not the same as it is for someone who spent  the first 26 years of their life in the country.  They don't smell the rain coming like I do or feel a storm in the breeze.   And that's not meant as a put down in any sense of the word.  Heck, I've been a city girl now for 47 years, and I know I could never live in the country again as much as I say I would like to.  The city is my home now, and while it's nice to visit the country, it's always good  to get home.

Just ask my son.  When he was forced to move in the middle of the pandemic he stayed with my daughter in the Poconos for awhile.  There were no stores nearby.  And seeing that he didn't have a car, he was pretty much stranded when my daughter returned to work.  At first he loved it and spoke about how restful and peaceful it was.  But then, a month passed and it was 'get me outta here'.  That would probably be me as well.  

Indian Summer is defined as  unseasonably warm and calm weather that occurs after a cold spell in Autumn.  No one is sure where it got it's name, but many believe that it refers to the Indians practice of gathering the last of the season's stores during this period. When I first read this poem it brought back memories of my youth when Indian Summer was seen as a dangerous time.  It was during the polio epidemic, just prior to the vaccine.  Our parents were so fearful for us. While the entire summer was a time of danger, they placed much more emphasis on Indian Summer.   I remember how we'd swim in the lake all through July and August, would would be forbidden to swim in the when Indian Summer arrived. No one really knew how polio was transmitted or what caused it, but swimming was a 'no no' during the season.              

"Indian Summer"

Just after the death of the flowers,
And before they are buried in snow,
There comes a festival season,
When nature is all aglow—
Aglow with a mystical spendour
That rivals the brightness of spring,
Aglow with a beauty more tender
Than aught which fair summer could bring....

                Emeline B. Smith

And here I am now, some 60 odd years later once again facing an unseen enemy.   Only this time it scares me.  When you are young, you feel untouchable.  Leave the worrying to your parents.  That's how us kids felt back then.  In today's world, facing today's enemy, we DO worry, especially those of us considered vulnerable.  Let's hope and pray this enemy is wiped out just as polio was so many years ago.