Seasons Greetings

They say that when New Year's Day falls midweek, as it will on Wednesday, it portends 12 propitious months, replete with many good and pleasant things.

One of them, perhaps, will be better weather. An early spring would be nice, of course, and a long spring would be even nicer, but in light of Mother Nature's paltry showing this past year, any spring that sticks around for more than three weeks would be gratifying.

Ditto for summer. No two ways about it, 1996 was a bummer summer. Too much rain, too little sun, lots of chilly days, never enough warm ones. The summer no one, not even the most determined sun-worshiper, managed to acquire a decent tan, the summer the mildew came to visit and never went away.

Come to think of it, autumn, the time of year most eagerly awaited by year-round residents, was nothing to write home about either. Snow fell early, in the second week of November, after a cloudy, on-again off-again fall that did little for anybody or anything, with the possible exception of root vegetables. Flu arrived ahead of schedule, too.

Well, good riddance to out-of-season seasons. Here's to a resounding turnaround in 1997. Happy New Year!