We're awake -- now what?

Green Day's Wake Me Up When September Ends is deservedly popular, despite a heavy-handed video and perhaps a bit of overexposure. I like the metaphor of lost innocence.
From a literal standpoint, I disagree with the title.

Sure, this month has sucked in a lot of ways, mostly because we've had two nasty hurricanes that have caused the displacement of an entire city and a crushing loss of faith in government to do the right thing on any level. There are still a couple of things related to Katrina that I can't discuss -- I have to get the images out of my mind. Aside from that, I've had a work project every bit as frustrating as that of an engineer working on an underfunded levee.

But in the "life goes on" vein, September is a month to cherish. The air turns cool but not cold, cleansing the air of its dampness. The sky seems more colorful. Birds that spent the last few weeks in Canada return to the backyard. And speaking of yards, we finally get a slight reprieve from mowing and pruning duties.

October and November can be nice, but the days grow colder and shorter. The advantage of March over September is that we know April, May and June are to follow.

This September went by much too fast. Perhaps part of it was that we were too obsessed with the news to look away from the TV sets for long. Part of it was work. And part of it was that the whole summer was too short thanks to cranky weather that persisted through April and May, even into June. We were robbed of our warm spring days. I think all the hot air stayed in the Gulf of Mexico to spawn killer hurricanes.

And now, it's definitely fall. People around me are already catching colds. The heat in our energy-inefficient house has been running for the last two nights. Leaves are piling up in the front yard.

I'll try to keep on the bright side. I have about 50 birds in the backyard at the moment all singing to thank me for refilling their feeder and the birdbath. We're expecting a beautiful weekend. Our neighborhood is pretty in winter, as we discovered upon moving in last year. Work will soon change.

Besides, it's hockey season.