Unmistakable signs

Humans evolved on this planet.

One inevitable consequence of this is a that we each have several internal clocks, timed to the rhythms of the Earth:

• Daily
• Monthly
• Seasonal

Yes, we do have internal clocks that tick over with the seasons.  How else to explain that we inherently know when summer is over.  We think we are superior, above all that, but we are no different than the trees that shed their leaves even before the first frost because, well because it is just time. 

Instead of dropping leaves, people living aboard flag the end of season in different ways:

• Dock lines get doubled up
• Extra fenders get hung
• If the boat has full canvas, the whole enclosure is put up and zipped tight
• Whole-boat canvas covers appear
• Sails may disappear into storage
• Dinghies get picked up and stored out of the water in various ways
• Long neglected, once again, attention returns to deck leaks, and solving them
• We never see our neighbors - there is no one sitting on their bow or stern (perhaps with an adult beverage) to say "Hi" to or to get a quick update on their status - where were they last weekend, where are they going the coming weekend, what projects are they working on.   Instead people walk down the dock, huddled against the rain and cold and and waste no time in getting down below into their own little bubbles of warmth and light.  

And on Eolian, perhaps the last leaf to fall is the disappearance of my ratty $15 commuter bicycle into storage.
 

When it goes, winter is surely close at hand.

It goes this weekend.

Unmistakable signs