Let us learn to appreciate
there will be times
when the trees will be bare,and look forward to the time
when we may pick the fruit.
-Anton Chekhov
We are starting to hit those days where it is warmer outside than in, and not yet time to turn on the heat at night, and it is so very difficult to drag my sorry carcass out of my warm bed in the morning. (Admittedly it helps when you have a four year old bopping you on the head and yelling, “Get up! It’s day!”)
This is the second woolly bear caterpillar I’ve found this autumn. The first had a much more pronounced band of brown, which I believe indicates a mild winter?
Of course this one says otherwise. And that’s what I get for not taking my camera everywhere I go; I swear I’m going to have it surgically attached to my hand.
A little research uncovers the fact that the length of the bands actually reveals the age of the caterpillar, and therefore is more of an indicator of how last winter went.
But that’s no fun, is it? October being a month that’s all about symbol, and superstition, and the supernatural, and ritual.
In my heart I know I found an indicator of a mild winter, though I lack photographic evidence. So that’s my official prediction. And my fervent hope.
For the record, I don’t walk under ladders, and I die a little inside when I break a mirror. My rational side cringes with embarrassment, but I just can’t help it.
Are you superstitious? What folkloric and non-rational beliefs can you not help but hold to?
I can't see it being a mild winter at all here in Minnesota. It's been a cold year. Maybe that's why I'm trying to go to Europe next semester…
Yikes, Minnesota! Now I feel like a baby for complaining about my Mid-Atlantic winters. You are way tougher than me.
Where in Europe?
*lol* I just wanted to experience cold 🙂 I grew up in California, so I wanted to go somewhere cold for college, just for a change.
I'm going to Germany and Austria for a six-month study abroad program! I'm soooo excited about it. Apparently it's still cold there though. Oops.