Spring Seasonal Shifts

If I didn't know better, I'd think that it was autumn, based on my senses.

The seminary apartment feels autumnal.  It is a chilly morning.  In some ways, I'm only noticing because the campus has shifted from heat to AC.  I only know that, because yesterday as I walked through the classroom building, I felt the chilled air blowing from the register in the hallway.  My first thought was  oh, good, it's been stifling with the heat still chugging along.  I have had to turn on the AC in my seminary apartment the last two afternoons.

This morning, I'm wishing we could use space heaters.  We can't, so I made a small batch of pumpkin butter (some pumpkin, some sugar, some spices, mix and bake for half an hour)--stove as space heater!  The apartment now smells autumnal.

But in some ways, spring still startles me.  I was grading student work when I was startled by the first light of the morning.  I thought, have I been grading that long?  I thought it was closer to 7 a.m., but it was closer to 6 a.m. than 7 a.m.

I looked across the parking lot Monday, and once again, I was struck by how much has changed since I was away.  Two weeks ago, when I pulled out of the Wesley parking lot, I could see through the leafless trees to the bell tower beyond.  Now, once again, the bell tower is obscured by the green leaves.

We are in the last weeks of the term.  It seems like we just started, but the new greenery and the earlier light tells a different tale.