First Frost
Hooray for first frost. It came last night. The grass was dusted with bits of ice this morning. It didn’t last long. The sun saw it’s duty and did it. It’s good to feel a little cold in the morning, however. Feels as though time is moving on, the season is changing, and for everything there is a season. And it’s nice to have the physical reminder that life stands still for no one or anything.
And just the other day I was wondering what it was like when Mars had water and what it must have been like to watch it disappear, and I thought of this as I drove by what used to be a local creek, but is now dry, the spring dead, the water gone to irrigate a crop or maybe a lawn. And I thought of all the other places on earth where the remnants of trees litter deserts. Is that how it started on Mars? There was life by the water on Mars, but then it was gone.
And I wonder how our time will end here on earth. We act and think like it will never happen simply because we can act and think. A bit of Anthropocentrism. In my experience, however, that’s exactly how things happen. A risk is devalued, ignored, then comes the event and it’s too late. But given the history of the earth, with its volcanoes and moving continents and it’s place in the universe of moving celestial bodies, I suspect our days are numbered. It’s just a number too big for us to imagine. And no amount of planning will forestall it because for everything there is a season. You can see it in every road cut if you only care to look.