Mahoning Valley, Viña style

Plaza Recreo, sunset. The wind, the air, the light, it is like fall in Pennsylvania, which is happening right now. It's funny how so far away the climate is so similar, at the same time of year, when everything is moving in a new direction. Here we are moving towards summer, but it is like PA's fall, dry winds and fronts, rolling cumulus clouds, clear bright sunlight, crisp air. Fall is my favorite time of year. I watch the parents bringing their kids to the playground, always they want to go on the big slide first, to go higher on the swing. I used to be that little, I used to swing just like they do, only I spoke differently, but otherwise it was the same. Now I am here and I speak differently, but really it is still the same. For being so different, it is at times so similar. Maybe it is for the similar latitude. It's more than slight, more than pictures, it is energy and feeling. It is different, but the same. Not quite the same, the original is never lost. It is remembering October and November in the Mahoning valley, walks on the Blue Mountain, Hawk Mountain. It is walking among the tree farms and oak trees and collecting leaves. It is walking all the way to visit the buffalo, past the christmas trees, crisp leaves, wind. It is the best times of my life. It is my family. It is clear and cold. It is being a child, going on hayrides. It is Halloween and trick-or-treating. It is the Auburn lookout in the cold wind, where I want to jump of a cliff and fly away. It is memories. It is wonder and new experiences. It is bald eagles. It is cross country, running at Hershey in the bitter cold with 200 others, and loving the bitter pain, the good kind. It is exciting. It is the beginning of the best the year has to offer; cumulating with fall and halloween, the calm before the storm at thanksgiving, and the grand finale: Christmas. It is an energizing time of year, and it is here too. It transfers, but like all transfers, it cannot take away from the glory of the original. But it can still be fantastic.