colder weather

September was a month of seasonal change.  A warm wet end-of-summer became a wet fall, and then quite abruptly a very cold autumn.  And October brought snow!

 

The seasonal change corresponded to a massive bout of depression for me.  Lots of factors contributed -- the rapid change in light, a very long-lasting cold/flu, several external triggering events, overall life stress.  Whatever the cause, I was very blue.  Which is why there have been no posts here since mid-August.  Because who can possibly blog when the very nature of existence is so fundamentally meaningless?

This happens to me rarely, and seldom for quite so long or so deeply.  It is not unendurable, but it does slow things down.  Poor Maya.  For reasons quite incomprehensible to her, September was a much less interesting month than she's become accustomed to.  Less training, more miscommunication.  More quiet time, less adventure.  I don't push either of us to grow, and I think we both find that frustrating.

It's not like she suffers terribly -- quiet walks, evenings in the park with the frisbee, chunks of raw meat for breakfast, ear rubs, games of tug, runs with her boy, spooning in bed, practicing old tricks, chasing chipmunks in the yard...Maya leads a relatively full life.  It's just that I am always aware of the progress Maya needs to make, and so standing still can feel almost as frustrating as regressing (oh, but not quite!).

Now, the sun seems to have come out, literally as well as figuratively.  The snow may have melted, but for a brief period we had a glimpse of winter.  And oh, I hope it is a snowy one.  First, because we need the moisture.  Second, because snow makes it so much easier to thoroughly exhaust Maya.  But most of all, because snow is FUN.