Snowblind

We turned on football this afternoon, and there were our Tennessee Titans in their Houston Oilers-style throwback uniforms ... slogging around on a snow-covered field in New England.

I've been looking forward to colder weather ever since I finished my Malabrigo coat back in July. And while there are weather extremes in other parts of the country -- too much rain in California, hot in the Southwest, snow up north -- we're having a bracing slide into autumn here, now that all the wet stuff is over. I'm enjoying dressing myself and my children in their new sweaters and jackets, digging out hats and mitts, reminding their dad to bundle them up before taking them to the playground.

But the white stuff flying around on television was a sudden reminder that there's a downside to winter's advent. I have a lot of travel coming up in the next few weeks, and we're planning to visit the family right after Christmas. Snow and ice can really throw a wrench into those schemes.

Ever since summer, our weather has been just about perfect. Leaving aside some flooding rains in the last month, we had an unexpectedly drought-free summer, a July and August virtually bereft of three-digit temperatures, and long stretches of perfect readings in the seventies since school's started. Could it be possible that we'll have a winter without an ice storm, with a couple of half-foot snowfalls only on the weekends that melt before we have to go back to work on Monday? Might we have pleasant weather and on-time flights for our trips, dry highways and flurries on Christmas Eve while we're safe in our beds?

I know it's asking too much. Really, I'll be happy if we make it where we're going and back without losing our luggage or sleeping involuntarily in a layover city. I hope your autumn and winter is everything you dream, too.