How does Richard Russo use imagery in The Risk Pool?

Imagery:

"I was an adult before I realized how cynical my grandfather's observation was, his summer reduced to a single day; autumn to a third-rate mix of carnival rides, evil-smelling animals, mud and manure; Thanksgiving reduced to an obligatory carnivorous act, a 'foul consumption,' he termed it; the rest Winter, capitalized."

"I knew from experience—mine and F. William Peterson's—that people who surrendered territory to my mother seldom won it back."