Snow on the Rose

Linda Burton posting from Denver, Colorado – “I want fall!” said the young woman in the waiting room. “We always get short-changed.” All of us were in temporary warm-clothes, grabbed hastily due to a 40-degree temperature drop that blew in like the Big Bad Wolf Wednesday night, huffing and puffing. It was 83 degrees when the DebateFest began at 3 PM on the University of Denver campus; DU students were sprawled on the lawn in short sleeved shirts. At 5:30 the wind began to blow, and within minutes the outdoor newscasters covering the Obama-Romney debate were covering themselves, wrapping neckscarves in a double fold and hanging on to their mikes. Those TV images were a signal to me that it was time to get the flu shot, so Thursday morning I headed for the clinic. That’s where the young woman sat, complaining about the weather. A tall and tan and ruggedly handsome man walked in and sat down near us; a folded bandana tied around his head; manly boots on his feet; a mountain-man image come to life (we later learned he fought fires in the summer and plowed snow in the winter). “I had snow at my house this morning,” he announced. “It was 26 degrees.” I asked him what the elevation was; he answered “8,700 feet.” Snow? I certainly wasn’t prepared for that. But hey, he’s at 8,700 feet; that won’t happen in town. Or so I thought. This morning, the red rose outside my window was layered with white. Snow, on October 5. Snow, on the rose! » read more