Once Upon a Time!
Once upon a time,,,,,,, in Detroit, there were times to remember and cherish. They may have been garish or revolutionary, or gentle and kind, or lurid or laughable. There was no specific time table. To each his own.

. “Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh, so mellow.”
 Harvey Schmidt, [[Music),
Tom Jones, [[Lyrics)
For me, September was the pivotal point of the year. It was the end of Spring and Summer. The heat of summer was abating. Our bodies were lagging a bit from the physical efforts necessary to keep up with the whirls of excitement that were always omnipresent in our social engagements as well as our athletic life.
An advancing grade in school would extend our cultural mores. If it was only a micro step, maturity reared its positive genes in our id.
September began to scheme and collaborate with October. A mystical mix of cool temperatures, a bit of rain, a kaleidoscope of color and then the incredible aroma of burning leaves. It induced a euphoric attitude of luxurious laziness.
Autumn has never failed to keep its prominence as a Member of the Four Seasons.
“Try to remember that kind of September
When you were a tender and callow fellow.”

November began probing an entrance to the stage. A short, flittering snowfall would remind us that the best was yet to come. The neighborhood
Parks were getting ready to flood the wading pools and then wait for a good ‘freeze,’
The Mark Twain Library, on Gratiot and Burns, was getting ready for its burgeoning clientele. Grade School and High School students were the dominant group, followed by the older folks with their fanatical fetish for reading, anything. There would always be more than a few who were just looking for a warm and cozy atmosphere and a comfortable chair. And Oh, yes, there were those private reading rooms. A bit of high jinks
Part time jobs would open up for high school kids in December in anticipation of the Christmas season.
December was always a blur. It seemed to appear, slowly, on a dry and vacant field. And then it gained in velocity and canvassed the City in a coat of white. The hurly burly citizenry burst their bonds of restrained antics and the decorations they put on,,, were their smiles.

“Deep in December, it’s nice to remember,
The fire of September that made us mellow.”


NOTE:
I have to pause on this soliloquy with a ’thank you’ to Schmidt and Jones for such beautiful lyrics.
I wonder if there are members who have enjoyed their own.,,,,
“Once Upon a Time!”