T.S. Eliot said April was the cruelest month, but in the North Carolina mountains, it’s October. As I’m writing this, the sky is technicolor blue, and the trees are eye-popping shades of red, orange, and yellow. It’s magnificent, but it will only last a week. Then, the leaves will fall, the birds will flee, and we will be facing the cold reality of winter.
Normally, we would be preparing to return to Florida around now, but Ian made that impossible. I haven’t really experienced a full blast of winter in about 45 years, and I’m dreading it. In a larger sense, however, we’re lucky. Our Florida house may look like a dump site, but at least it’s still there. I know people who stayed for Ian and watched structures, boats, and bodies float by. Some poor folks are living in tents on their lots. It’s an appalling sight.
I guess October is the cruelest month in Lee County, too.