霜降
Again, the solar term seems to be in good agreement with the weather conditions in North China. Newspapers have reported that temperature is expected to drop below freezing in the Harbin region (formerly known as Manchuria), and the central heating systems for the city has been turned on, resulting in very heavy smog over the city. The reports indicate that thick fog was already hanging over the area.
It has been the same here for about ten days now. Last year we had a very pleasant Indian Summer well into October; this year, we have had little rain, but at best only afternoon sun, and on many days the fog has not burnt off at all.
Lawns get soaked in dew and never dry up, not even on the sunny afternoon, as I found out last Friday, when I did the last lawn trimming of the year, in preparation for winter - as the trimmer shook the grass, a cloud of pulverized water floated off. All very appropriate, since that was the Cold Dew solar term (which did not get its own entry in this blog, but hopefully next year - this is the good thing about circular time: nothing lasts, but nothing is lost forever).
It is also the time of the year when this family of mushrooms pushes up on the front lawn - they have been there every year:
I love them, because they remind me of the Dugtrio Pokémon.
