Thursday, February 3, 2011

Winter Weather

Unlike most of the country, right now our weather is fairly mild. There is a slightly springy feel in the air, although it is still chilly. It's hard to explain, but it just smells sort of "green" at different times of day. Sometimes the ocean air comes up and it smells sort of beachy outside.

Today C and I got to play outside while N had her morning nap. We went out to the swingset and played for a long time there and with the sandbox full of rocks instead of sand (sand attracts the neighborhood cats and also when it rains, frogs come and lay their eggs in the pools, and... let's just say the sandbox turned into a science experiment within about a week last year, so we opted for rocks instead this time around.). The weather was slightly chilly but then perfect once we got moving. We took a short walk after N woke up as well.

A few things struck me about the weather this time of year. First, when I open the door and look out, down the road and across the neighborhood, at this time of year all the colors seem to coordinate. Everything is taupe, grey, or brown, and the living things that are noticeably alive are fairly sedate. It's a calm feeling compared with the riotous, violent nature of summers here. With tropical heat, fanged snakes (yes, in our yard... shudder...), twisty stabby vines, lightning, flash floods, etc., summers are kind of scary when you really get down to it. No one goes anywhere except from the house to the car to the store/office and then back again, hunched over and rushing. In winter, though, we can stroll outside, go for walks, observe the changing seasons, and generally enjoy the out of doors without having to fight off saber-toothed tigers (yes, in our yard... shudder...) and plunge our heads into ice water to avoid heat stroke. In the winter I can imagine I live somewhere sedate. Ironically, the places I imagine, like Connecticut, Kenosha, or Iowa City, are in the middle of a violent experience of their own right now, although instead of venomous snake fangs and eggs frying on the sidewalk it's a lot of ice and snow and cold.

So I guess what I am trying to say is that if this calm, peaceful, enjoying-the-outdoors feeling is what northerners experience in the summer, then I can grudgingly understand why a person could look forward to July instead of dreading it and conspiring to make it pass as quickly as possible.

Also, it was really fun watching C play on the swingset again. He is finally gotten up the courage to actually swing, and he's getting better at it. My little monkey.

3 comments:

  1. Summers up here can be brutal; so, so humid! But not consistently as bad as yours, I suppose!

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  2. I know -- I've really loved the weather lately! But I see the grass and clover coming up looking super green. It's a nice pop of color! Where do you live with fanged snakes!? AHH!

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  3. We have found a few little snakes in our yard, but I hate them so much that to me they all look like puff adders. I just haaaaaate them. Urgh. I can hardly even look at a picture of a snake in a book. Yuck.

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