Back from France

We're back from France.

We've been back for a couple days, and I've been in that funny window of time where, culturally, I have one foot in France and one in Minnesota. It's like being on both sides of a mirror. I walk around here and I see stuff through the eyes of a French person. It makes you think about a lot of things.

We've had great weather since we've been back. It's warm and summery. But there's a bittersweet feel in the air too, because the light is different and a couple trees are already starting to turn yellow. Fall is so sad, I think. I love summer passionately. Summer is about color and heat and warmth and greenery and life. I feel better than I ever do when I'm in the heat all day, running around outside or swimming in the river until the late summer sunset drops to the west and the crickets start chirping. It's exciting. It's everything I love. Heat doesn't bother me at all. Heat is passionate and invigorating. You don't have to wear many clothes and hence you can feel all the sensations around you - the wind, leaves, sand, cold stones, hot chairs. In winter we're all covered up and cut off from the sensations of things around us. I hate that. It's the saddest of sad things. Some people here like fall because the leaves change color but for me it's the beginning of a long goodbye.