Seasons turn, turn, turn, turn.

At least that is the way my head remembers to lyrics Pete Seegar put together and the Byrd’s popularized in the mid 1960s. The song is a Biblical re-statement of changing seasons.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted…

A season of change is on us again. There is a bit of chill in the mornings and late evenings. The days aren’t as hot as they were a month ago.

The great hand tilting the earth’s axis has pushed the tilt far enough now for us to notice the ever-moving cycle of time.

The trees are noticing too. Along the ridges we notice the tinge of color that comes with advancing fall. Geese are moving now along the New River below my house. I notice them honking in the evening.

A certain group of flowers that are common here are blooming, golden rod. There has been a predominance of a dainty blue flower brightening spots along roadways.

Soon those pleasantries will turn to the cold hard facts of winter.

Predictions are that the coming winter will be about has difficult the handle as last winter.

You remember that one. We all still talk about it. On Dec. 18, Ashe saw snowfalls ranging from 8 inches to more than a foot. Ok, so maybe those aren’t exact numbers. It was close enough for the purpose of this writing. Forgive me if I missed it by an inch or two.

I still had to slog most of the next eight or nine weeks through shin-deep snow, just to get to my car in the mornings. It was a challenge. I hated the cold. I feared the cold. I really hated the wind. Had anyone been around to witness my spectacular fall one moonless night, I would have been embarrassed.

The moonlight bouncing around the little holler where I live urged a reconsideration of my plight. So did the falling snow. The dramatic improvement the snowmelt would bring to the water table offers us all opportunity to celebrate.

At the worst of times, friends helped me out and took me into their homes so that I could park close to their front door instead of hiking to my own. These are truly good people who like me but haven’t particularly any reason to have taken me to raise.

They have both offered the same for the coming year.

They like me, but we definitely disagree on some things. We disagree in large measure on politics, but they are able to invite me into their homes to help me.

We have accepted the challenges that the turning seasons and the tilting earth axis brought last winter. We showed up and met the challenge

The seasons are turning again, not just in climatic terms but in political and economic senses as well.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

We don’t know the answers

What we need to do is seek the answers and meet the challenge.