If It's October, This Must Be Tucson

Weekend Assignment #27: There are 12 months in the year. Which is your favorite? Give us one good reason why.

Extra Credit: Which month comes in second?

I've never had a favorite month. Which one I select, if I have to select one at all, depends at least partly on where I'm living at the time. Here in Tucson, I guess I have to go with

October.

See, if I still lived in Syracuse, I would never, ever choose October. While you folks Back East (although it's really the latitude that counts) are going on about fall leaves and crisp air, I'm remembering cold, rainy, windy, miserable fall evenings, during which I often spent twenty minutes or more waiting for a bus from the University to my one-room apartment - or just trudging through the rain with my heavy textbooks. (Note to self: tell the condemned building story sometime.)

But here in Tucson, October means that the 100 degree days are behind us until next May. Some days it won't break 90 degrees, and it probably won't rain even once during the month. We still run the air conditioning, but not all day, every day. Hardly any leaves change color here in fall, but if we want cool fall air, we can always drive up Mt. Lemmon. The trees up there have probably started to recover from the big fire of 2002. Yep, I like the weather in October - but only if I'm in Tucson, or some other warm place.

And of course, you can probably tell from my frequent use of Halloween photos that it's a fave holiday of mine.

Emergency Back-Up Favorite for the Extra Credit:

December.

Again, if I still lived in Syracuse, I wouldn't be terribly fond of December. One memorable late afternoon in December, 1976, I stood outside Peck Hall for an hour in a blizzard, waiting for a bus that was broken down or snowed in, watching the time and temperature on the MONY Plaza tower as it said: 11 degrees... 10 degrees... 11 degrees... 10 degrees... 9 degrees...!" I didn't dare to leave the bus stop, and try to call my dad, in case the bus came the moment I left. The irony of my location - about 200 feet from Dad's deserted office - was not lost on me. That was far from the only time I was cold and miserable in that month in that metropolitan area.  December in Syracuse. Feh.

But here in Tucson, December tops out in the sixties and seventies by day, and seldom dips below freezing at night.  Some winters we never turn on the thermostat at all. There's only been one White Christmas in Tucson since they started keeping records, but I was here for it. And again, if I want snow in December, I just have to drive up Mt. Lemmon. Christmas without the cold. I can handle that.

I mentioned this assignment to John (my husband) earlier this evening. He said, "My favorite month starts in late November and runs to the beginning of January, for obvious reasons. It's called Novemdecembuary."

Karen

UPDATE:

October 2, 2004, 5:29 PM - 91 degrees. Predicted high for tomorrow: 93 degrees. A little lower, please.

Tags: Weekend Assignment, October, Favorite Month, Halloween