Fall is here. It always comes as a surprise. I think summer will go on forever and then a fog rolls in to remind me. I rode my bike to town in it; the whole village looked as though it was wrapped in a cobweb. It was the topic of the morning conversation at the Owego Kitchen, \u201cBoy, sure is foggy out there!\u201d We\u2019re a sharp bunch, us old coots; we notice things like fog. <\/p>\n
We don\u2019t notice we missed two belt loops in our pants, that our \u201clost\u201d glasses are perched on the top of our heads, or that the guy we just greeted with \u201cHi Bill\u201d is really Frank. No, we don\u2019t notice those things, but we do notice fog. Fog is good. You can\u2019t see the crabgrass through the haze; the lawn looks flawless. The east side of the house that looked like it needed repainting yesterday seems just fine on a foggy morning. <\/p>\n
Fog is one of the best things about fall. There is nothing quite so serene as a flock of geese ascending from the river blanketed in fog. First, you hear the resounding honks, then, one by one, the geese rise in a \u201cV\u201d and head off to warmer places. Old coots do the same thing, except their formation is on the southbound lane of Route 81 or 95, interspaced among a sea of tractor-trailers. <\/p>\n
Some of my old coot brothers (and sisters) don\u2019t notice the fog; they haven\u2019t had their cataracts fixed. To them, a foggy morning is just like any other. It\u2019s not good to put off getting the cloudy lenses replaced with new ones, and not for the obvious reasons, like it\u2019s impossible to drive at night or it\u2019s hard to recognize people.<\/p>\n
I get why some old coots don\u2019t deal with their cataracts. It\u2019s the, \u201cthere is nothing out there I want to see\u201d syndrome. It\u2019s similar to the condition that stops old guys from buying hearing aids, or turning them on when they do. They don\u2019t want to hear anything either. Especially someone telling them it\u2019s time to trim those cornstalks growing out of their ears. <\/p>\n
But, delaying the inevitable (cataract repair) is fraught with danger. The kind that takes place when you get home from the hospital and look in the mirror. First, you screech. Then you yell, \u201cHow did my face get so old looking?\u201d When you turn around to ask your wife what\u2019s going on you get another shock, \u201cWho are you,\u201d you ask. No, it\u2019s better to nip the problem in the bud and enjoy the real fog, the one that comes rolling in on a nippy morning and announces the arrival of fall. <\/p>\n