There'll Be Some Changes Made

For there's a change in the weather, there's a change in the sea,
So from now on there'll be a change in me.
-Billy Higgins/W. Benton Overstreet

The weather is changing. The days are cooler, the nights are crisper, the wind is stronger, the sunlight is softer, and high overhead in a china blue sky the sound of trumpeting flocks of Sandhill Cranes can be heard as they begin their journey South. The other day I watched out my bedroom window as many of the yellow leaves on my neighbors cottonwood trees detached themselves and gently floated to the ground like large snowflakes. When I walked to the post office later that same morning the streets were filled with dead leaves scurrying down the asphalt in a futile attempt to stay ahead of the wind. All indicators that Fall is here.

Then there is my own personal indicator; the quilt folded at the end of my bed. Yesterday my bedding consisted of 2 cotton sheets, one blanket, and a cotton bed spread. But now that the nights are cooler we need that quilt to help keep us warm. As we get closer to Winter and the nights get colder I will remove the cotton sheets and replace them with flannel. Sometime around February when the nights are at their coldest I will remove the quilt and replace the cotton bedspread with a comforter. Then as we move into Spring the process will reverse.

First the comforter will be replaced with the cotton bedspread and the quilt. Then as the days get warmer the flannel sheets with be removed and cotton sheets will be put on the bed. As we near the end of Spring the quilt will no longer be needed and will be put away. As Summer heats up I will remove the blanket and then, when it is hot enough to use the air conditioner, return it to the bed. At this time next year I will again be folding the quilt each morning and putting it at the end of my bed. The first time I do this each year I know Fall has truly arrived.