It's a beautiful fall in the neighborhood

The global warming or, "Climate change" as the republicans would like us to call it, is working out pretty nicely this fall in Brooklyn (as long as you don't think about the dying polar bear cups up north). I am seriously adverse to cold weather. I do not understand why this is since I was born and raised right here, but my body practically shuts down when the thermometer dips below 40 degrees. My nose turns red and my fingers and toes freeze and turn purple. Part of this can be attributed to Renaud's syndrome, which unfortunately it appears Harley J. has inherited. Whatever the reason, me and cold do not mix almost as much as me and dark days don't mix. Put the two together (cold and dark) and there is very little chance I would do well in a Scandinavian country which is really too bad since my politics and their politics seem to go hand in hand. I do not mind paying higher taxes for the return of universal health care and scant poverty. There are many other aspects of Scandinavian living that appeal to me (the safety, the landscape, the fish) but sadly I know that I would end up going shithouse crazy like a Shakespearean Dane who just can't take it any longer. Living in Portland OR for five years gave me a taste of how little I can endure dark days. There are few experiences I hate more than waking up and having to turn the lights on, and in good old PDX one has to do this all winter long practically. I wish this were not the case because Portland has so many wonderful things going for it: No sale tax, lovely outdoors, a great bus system, world class thrifting, amazing food, the best live music west of Austin, and of course tons of loons just dying to talk to me on the bus. I would move back there in a heartbeat if it was not for those long dark rainy winter days. All the Prozac in the world would not be able to keep my head out of the oven.

That said, fall in Brooklyn has been unseasonably warm and sunny and I could not be happier.