Cold, quiet, and falling leaves

Spring has fled again, pushed out by a cold wind. The weather ups and downs have finally caught up with me, and I've been sniffling, sneezing, and rubbing my itchy eyes all day. I assume it's a cold as a result of the changing temperatures, but I suppose it could be allergies too.

It has been quiet on the island this week, back to the pre-season slowness which is pretty typical for this time of year. The last couple of weeks were busy with spring break vacationers enjoying the relatively mild weather. Now we get a lull and another short respite before the rush of the high season begins in May. This month, most of the remaining restaurants and shops will reopen, ready for another summer selling season.

A unique thing about Ocracoke, which is very visible now, is the falling leaves. Yes, now. We don't have colorful leaf changes or beds of crunchy fallen ones in the autumn, but in spring time there are leaves aplenty, all over everywhere. Fiddler Dave describes this beautifully in his song "Howard Street" with the lyric "the leaves fall for joy and not for grieving". (Or something to that general effect.)

The gray weather has gotten me down, and the cold (or allergies) is probably not helping. I'm feeling tired, stressed, overwhelmed, and unmotivated. So, sorry for the less-than-inspiring blogs recently. Hopefully they are better than nothing!

Here's a funny picture to make this blog post a bit more interesting. This is what happens when, in the process of moving and rearranging, all the lamps end up congregated together. Maybe I should have turned them all on ~ the resulting light might have fooled my mind into thinking I was getting more sunshine and elevated my mood. :)