You never know what Autumn will be like here in always unpredictable New Hampshire. Will we have an Indian summer? When will the first frost come? Will it be a rainy or dry season? will the colors be vivid and how long will they last? How long can we hold out before turning on the heat? Will it snow before winter?

Today is a beautiful sunny day, the sky a bright blue with fluffy white clouds. Chilly but not too cold and no wind, practically idyllic and very unusual for this time of year. If you could say that anything in particular is “usual” for New Hampshire. We get a scattering of idyllic days strategically placed throughout the seasons just to keep us believing in the beauty of the “Live Free or Die” state.

Am I really writing about the weather? Not my style, but it is something we talk a lot about here in New Hampshire, probably because we have to deal with so many issues related to weather. Torrents or rain that cause flooding and landslides, closed roads, and home damage. Blizzards and ice storms that cause power outages that can last months, not to mention impaired road conditions and accidents. Spring doesn’t come until May but it brings it’s guests, the black flies, and a humid summer that follows quickly in June.

I’m not complaining, I’m just being real. At the end of July this past summer I pointed out to my husband a branch on a tree where the leaves had already turned red. Odd, unusual, but not impossible in New Hampshire. And during the same year now in late fall we still have much color, the daytime highs have been 55F to 60F degrees and the nights mostly in the 30’s. Yet I can’t help remember a few years ago when we had 6″ of snow on Halloween.

My grandparents were snowbirds, hightailing it out of here by the end of October and not returning until May. They spent the winters in Florida where I grew up. My parents did the opposite, raised their family in Florida and then returned to New Hampshire to retire in their 60’s. Perhaps New Hampshire breeds unpredictable people too.

Anyway, I started this yesterday just because I was so happy to see the blue sky and feel the mild temperature in almost mid November. Today was equally as mild, but I overheard someone saying we might get snow by Friday night or Saturday. Such is life in New Hampshire.