Indian Summer?

It's warm out there, friends and fans of weather, but cool weather's coming, and maybe even a little rain. Late-season agriculturalists must be pleased. Broccolists. Lettucists. Also pleased might be those of us not so up on our laundry. This was the time of year to be a college student, as I remember -- In one week you could wear it all. Just make sure you have enough socks and panties and you're good to go. I've tried to grow out of that. I have. I swear.

Here's a charmingly antiquated exploration of what Indian Summer might or might not be, courtesy of the NWS out of Detroit.

OK, children, where were we? Ah: Once again it falls to me to tell you, even in this unseasonable warmth, to go outside. Have the next-to-last iced coffee of the season. Wear the next-to-last t-shirt. Get ready to have and wear the lasts of those tomorrow, our last warm day until the next one. Here at our own outside, out on the WeatherDeck and even beyond, there's the smell of the Vieja Maple just starting to shed its leaves, a fantastic smell, decay and shift and crunch. The tree's not quite as spectacular this year as in years past, which is its own kind of spectacular, somehow: A record in all the other years of the rain we hadn't had, a record this year of what we were fortunate to get.