From time to time our son will make a game by asking his children to come up with questions to ask me. They will go one at a time, each asking a question and waiting for my answer before going on to the next one. Sometimes they’ll ask three questions each. Sometimes they’ll keep it up a bit longer. Recently one of my grandchildren asked me “What is your favorite season?” I’ve been asked a lot of “favorite” questions by my grandchildren: favorite color, favorite food, favorite book, etc. I paused with the season question because I try to always answer truthfully and the truth is that I’m not sure I have a favorite season. There was a time, many years ago, when I would have quickly answered, “winter.” I went through a phase of enjoying skiing as my favorite outdoor activity. When we lived in Boise, Idaho we did not have air conditioning in our home and had AC in only one of our vehicles. I am not a fan of being too warm and although we could escape the heat by going into the mountains, the summers in southern Idaho were a bit too warm for my liking. I suspect that if I lived in Arizona or Texas I might be quick to think that summer is not my favorite season.

But summers are really nice where we now live. Although locals complain that summer temperatures are warmer than once was the case, my experience with living here has made me enjoy summer a lot. Our house here, however, does have air conditioning as well as all of our vehicles. On the other hand, we have not needed to run AC at night and when we do use it we do so for short periods of time. There are a lot of summer activities that I really enjoy including trips to the mountains, camping, bike riding, hiking, and paddling. Being retired has given me more time for gardening and I’ve had some very nice successes with flowers since moving out here.

For as long as I can remember I have enjoyed both spring and fall. When it comes to gardening, I like planting a lot more than weeding and planting fall bulbs yields such great spring successes. This is tulip country and tulips, hyacinths, daffodils and iris all yield rich rewards. I love the changing colors of autumn, but I also love the fresh buds of spring.

It is hard for me to choose one season as a favorite. I like them all. Having said that, I am aware that the seasons are a bit different in this place than in other places where we have lived. We don’t get much winter around here. At least we don’t get extended periods of snow and cold temperatures. We’ll get frost, though we haven’t had our first frost of the year yet. We’re still getting a good tomato harvest right now. In the middle of the winter, it might snow but it is rare for the snow to stay on the ground for more than a day or so. We did have a short time when nighttime temperatures reached into the teens and even single digits a couple of years ago, but I don’t break out my warmest clothes very often.

Another difference is that fall is rainy season around here. Poets go on and on about spring showers, but we get a lot of fall showers. I can hear the rain on the skylights in the kitchen as I write. I learned a lot about this region’s seasons the fall that we purchased this house. We moved into it in October and November was a particularly rainy month that year. Inland from where we live both the Nooksack and Fraser Rivers flooded. Communities and farmland on both sides of the international border experienced a lot of destruction from flooding.

Our two year old grandson hasn’t gotten into the swing of asking questions. He is discovering new ways of making his words work for him, and he likes to have stories read to him, but he is not yet much of a talker. Unlike the rest of us, who are entertained by thinking about seasons and which might be our favorite, he pretty much lives in the present. So for him right now, fall is his favorite season and rain is one of the things he likes about fall. A couple of days ago, he came running to greet me as I pulled into the farmyard. He is just the right height to grab me by the belt buckle and as I spoke with his mother, he was pulling at my waist to get me to come with him. As I followed, he had to pause several times as we crossed the yard to splash in puddles. Like all of the children in his family he has a good set of rain boots. They are essential on the farm. I, however, was not wearing my boots and was not in the mood to stomp in puddles and get my feet wet. I noticed, however, that wet feet weren’t a problem for him. He was clearly splashing water into the tops of his boots and you could hear the water sloshing in his boots as he walked. What he wanted to show me was that he had taken several large chunks of bark from the woodpile and they were floating in a particularly large puddle. I’m pretty much responsible for that particular puddle. The low spot is where I let the tires on my pickup spin when I was moving a trailer. I’ve been meaning to replace the dirt and rake it smooth, but haven’t gotten around to the chore. What is a small problem for me is a big delight for our grandson. He had his own boat pond with the bark and the puddle.

Having lived most of my life in places where it doesn’t rain very often, I worried about the move to this place. I thought I might not like all of the rain. It doesn’t seem to bother me that much, especially when my guide is a two year old who doesn’t mind it a bit. So today I’ll let fall be my favorite season. There is nothing better than playing boats with a two year old. I plan to have a different answer to the question when winter, spring, and summer roll around.