Cool.  Perhaps cold to some.  On Thanksgiving Day, snow, sleet, and cold rain fell upon the world in magical dances.

Finally, as though spurred to action by the sudden change, trees began shedding their leaves.  Slowly they undressed, little by little, each carefully baring a wee bit of bone, then more.

Soon, however, they stopped.  Most now teeter on the edge of nakedness with half their clothing removed, the other half somewhere between summer’s green and autumn’s varied hues.  Others already find themselves prematurely undressed.

Why?

Because autumn’s hand was staid, staid by stubborn summer’s inability to let go when it’s time to go, to realize by December that change is necessary, that things must sleep, others must die, and a still rest must befall the land so new life can take shape in spring.

Yesterday’s temperature?  80° F (27° C).

Today’s temperature?  The same.

Ah, but change is afoot.

Tomorrow’s high will struggle to rise above today’s low.  After this brief attempt at warmth, it will begin falling more than twenty degrees as rain and thunderstorms move into the area.

Autumn has teeth.

By Monday, our high will be nearly forty degrees cooler than Saturday.  And the precipitation will continue.

By Tuesday morning, a distinct possibility exists that rain could give way to something wintry, something different, even if briefly and even if no accumulation occurs.

Such is the way of things with seasonal change in Texas.

Remember our attempted move from winter to spring in April 2007?  One weekend pushed torrential rains and damaging thunderstorms through the area, including several tornadoes and enough floodwaters to wash away part of the retaining wall at the lake’s spillway.  The very next weekend we had an ice storm with snow and sleet, and frigid temperatures that froze the entire floodplain here at the lake, the floodplain still under water from the previous weekend’s deluge.

As for this weekend’s dramatic change promising to cast out this Houstonian summer in favor of something less coastal, I say let it come.  Let the trees complete their change of dress, let the bones of the world stand naked, let autumn finish what it started so winter can arrive.