On the evening of September 21st, a cold wind swept out of the east and blew Summer away. I'd never experienced Fall coming right on schedule. That it was to-the-day was almost eerie.
Where I grew up, we had cold foggy Summers, and Fall was when it warmed up and got really nice. The only White Christmas I ever had was having the Iceberg roses still blooming.
I realized, though, that McMinnville is perfectly situated for the seasons. We're just a hair North of the 45th Parallel, halfway between the North Pole and the Equator. Fall here starts on the first day of Autumn. It has to, geographically and astrophysically. The 45th Parallel is the Platonic Ideal of seasonal change, like Greenwich Mean Time is the standard for clocks.
The longitude of the Earth should be graded for seasons. The Equator: always Summer, and the North Pole: always Winter. If the Tropics spend 12 months having June and July, and the Arctic spends the year with December and January, then the people along the 45th would be the only ones getting all 12 months.
"What month is it in L.A.?"
"Don't talk to me about roses, it's February here!"
The 45th Parallel is surprisingly Northerly. McMinnville shares latitude with Minneapolis, lower Montana, Northern South Dakota, Ottawa Canada, Darkest Maine and Colchester Nova Scotia. Seems like it ought to be a lot colder here right now.
The Bordeaux region of France is right there, too, which is one of the reasons there's so much Pinot growing around here. Also Hokkaido, Japan. I wonder if they grow Pinot grapes.
