The 5th season

Its after labour day now, and all is quieting down in the San Francisco bay area.

The kids are back in school, gas prices are falling, the days are getting shorter, the foggy afternoons will dissipate and the warm sunny weather will only increase now until winter.

I so look forward to the next 7 weeks where the sunsets at Ocean Beach are the most spectacular, the wine country will begin its harvest and the scent of processed grapes will fill the air.

The sport of surfing begins its annual quality improvement program, and footballs will replace baseballs.

The Opera and the Symphony crank up their fund raising efforts, and I will pull out my golf clubs and head north to get in a few rounds before winter sets in.

I'll put away my flip flops and linen pants only to take out my leather jackets and scarves. The crabs will come into season, I'll make ratatouillle, and I'll switch from drinking summer white wines to cabarnets, zinfandels and burgundies....yummy!

I'll begin to listen to my collection of Jazz music again, and let all of that loud frenetic and fast paced music of the summer sit idle now on my hard drives and mP3 players.

I think it is this time of the year that keeps me here is San Francisco over any other. I have always said I would move to Hong Kong in a heartbeat, but if I were to leave the city by the bay and make such a transition, I would still return for the months of September and October...

The 5th season...