First Frost Josh

Bite-Size is a new feature I'm adding to the blog. Bite-Size posts will be shorter and more informal than regular posts. They'll allow me to talk more about my interests and random things that pass through my head without having to stretch it into a 1000+ word bloviation. Enjoy! § As the first full week of November wraps up, reality is slowly sinking in. In Canada, daylight savings time has turned the clocks back an hour and night descends like a premature Grim Reaper. Carol of the Bells and Canon in D are slowly replacing the soundtracks of Halloween (1978) and Tonight She Comes , and the weather is on the precipice of taking that next big plunge towards freezing.

It’s been a mild autumn in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) this year. Two weeks into October and twenty-plus degree temperatures persist—it breaks my heart. Nevertheless, if I waited on the weather to begin my fall activities, I would miss out on weeks of exploration. In my first real autumn escapade of the year, on Canadian Thanksgiving, I decided to travel to Victoria Falls. 

Autumn air tastes of urgency. The creeping chill and trees’ spectacular descent into hibernation note the passing days with the same inevitability as a ticking clock. As each expiration of breath becomes more and more visible, we are reminded of nature’s steady countdown to winter. Change is everywhere and inescapable. Rather than reject it, autumn invites us to embrace it. For the me the peak of autumnal anticipation is the start of the school year in September. There’s something magical about those first few weeks of school: not yet besieged with assignment upon assignment, the temperature imperceptibly dipping, reacquainting yourself with the faces, new and old, and all that has changed about them over the summer. At that age, it feels like every small event has the potential to completely change life as you know it. The highs are high, and the lows are low, but above all there is an instinctive craving to try new things and experience as never before.