It’s officially a change of seasons.
The time hasn’t changed yet—that comes in a couple of weeks—but the temperature definitely has.
It was around 6:15 or 6:30 this morning when I woke up, and I had left a window open overnight.
Boy, was it cold inside.
But honestly? It was kind of fun.
There is something so cozy about being tucked underneath warm covers while the air around you is chilly. I had the heater on, blankets pulled up, and Bill curled up between my legs like my own personal little space heater.
Cozy, cozy, cozy.
The funny thing is, I left the window open mostly for Bill, and apparently the first crisp morning of fall has absolutely activated this cat.
He is thrilled.
He’s talkative. He’s frisky. He’s wandering around the house announcing things to absolutely no one and everyone at the same time.
I fed him, thinking, Okay, surely this will do the trick and we can both go back to sleep.
Nope.
Chatty Kathy was downstairs with a full morning agenda.
I swear the cold air has done something to him. It’s like fall came through the window and flipped his little cat switch from house cat to wild woodland creature.
And part of me would love to let him outside to explore it.
But Bill has been an indoor cat ever since I got him. Before that, he was out there running the streets, and I think he has very happily retired from that lifestyle.
Plus, I live on a road that is basically a cut-through for a major highway. Cars fly by. There is just too much risk involved for me to ever feel comfortable letting him wander around outside on his own.
Bill may have street-cat roots, but those days are over.
I did buy him a really nice tracker collar, and at one point I even attempted the whole harness-and-leash situation.
Bill declined.
Strongly.
He wanted absolutely nothing to do with being walked like a dog, and he made his position on the matter very clear.
So now I’m trying to figure out how to bring a little bit of the outdoors indoors for him.
My next plan is a bird feeder outside one of his favorite windows.
Because Bill loves his morning meetings with the neighborhood wildlife.
He chats with the squirrels. He watches the birds. They seem to commune with one another in the mornings and again at night.
What they’re doing in the middle of the day, I have no idea.
Probably partying.
But this morning, listening to Bill chatter away while that crisp air came through the window, I realized how much I love these little signs that life is changing seasons again.
A cold room.
Warm blankets.
A happy cat.
An open window.
The heater humming.
Birds and squirrels beginning their morning shift outside.
And me, tucked into bed, getting to witness the whole thing.
Sometimes a beautiful day doesn’t need some grand beginning.
Sometimes it begins at 6:15 in the morning with a freezing-cold house, a cat who will not shut up, and the realization that fall has finally arrived.
So here’s to the fall, y’all.
Here’s to crisp air, cozy mornings, chatty cats, warm blankets, open windows, and whatever secret parties the squirrels are apparently attending while we’re at work.
It’s going to be a beautiful day.
