Hesperian Days

I have noticed, in my meanderings in the garden, that evening is coming sooner than it used to.

I have also noticed that when I awake, stretching my little lithe body down the length of the bed and yawning my little pink-mouthed yawn, that it is dark as a dungeon and I think, maybe it is still night and I should just sleep, but I know it’s not night because I’m starving and want my breakfast and those dumb cheepers outside are actually still peep, peep, peeping, even though it is really not the season to do so.

And mama says, “Uh, oh, the Hesperian Depression is upon us!” Which is that time in the fall when some people get a bit mentally under the weather because of changes in the light and changes in the weather and a general movement toward winter and the closing down of the year. Hesperus is the name of the evening star in Greek mythology and I think when that star rises in autumn’s evening, it rises sooner than it used to and the evening closing in and the morning dark as my fur leaves little room for uplifting, energizing daylight hours.

Well, that’s what I think, anyway. Even I come in sooner now than I used to in late summer.

Mama used to feel it much more strongly than she does now and I think that’s because in California where the weather and light are pretty much the same all year round, except in autumn when it does get darker earlier, there really is no change in seasons for months and months but now in France, where seasons are so separate and so different, it’s a bit more interesting to suddenly find oneself in leaf-dropping, smoke-scented, chestnut-roasting autumn and so there’s not a lot of time to get into the Hesperian thing and feel depressed.

Does that make sense? Probably not, but I definitely feel the difference and sometimes, around five o’clock when the sun appears to set and it looks as if night is coming, I get really depressed when my food isn’t coming for another HOUR!!!

Or two.

That would depress any kitty.

Maybe mama and papa get a bit melancholy when they have to wait for THEIR dinner for an extra hour.