January 08th, 2025

I don't know where every single one of you lives but it seems as if most of the country right now is dealing with some serious wintery weather!  Snow!  Ice!  Plunging temperatures!  All of that super fun winter weather stuff. It's even happening here in Florida.  And yes I am well aware that other states are really being whammed and having lived in very snowy/wintery places before, I sympathize sincerely. We are lucky that, by comparison, our measly temperature drop is nothing at all.

Still, it's not our norm.   People travel here, intentionally, this time of year to get away from the cold. To warm up, lay on the beach in the sun, put on sunscreen, wear shorts and sandals without turning blue with cold in January, is a dream.  But that dream isn't quite as dreamy as our visitors hoped just now.  When Tim and I did our noonwalk yesterday, we couldn't help but notice that there was almost nobody on the beach and the few who braved the chilly wind were hunkered down and wrapped in sweatshirts. I could almost hear their teeth chattering.

I feel badly for them, our guests,  the people that signed on for a nice hot sunny Florida vacation and were kind of duped by Mother Nature.  but weather is like that.  Anyone who vacations anywhere, anytime ever, has to be able to roll with the punches.  Life is like that and vacations even more so.

The locals are not big fans of the chill either, just so you know.  And because those of us who live Florida life 24/365 are more accustomed to hothothot, any significant drop in temperature will create those funny (but very real) memes of people on beaches in puffy coats, hats and mittens.  It's a real thing.  I've been hearing a lot of weather related complaints. As if I were in charge. LOL .  That's hilarious.  If I were in charge there would never ever be another hurricane anywhere.  Clearly I have no power.

But unlike so many of my other fellow Florida Residents, I kind of like this little season of Brisk weather.  It's a very nice change of pace.  I am enjoying having the opportunity to remember how to dress in lightweight layers for maximum toastiness.  I delighted in hauling out long pants and sweaters - it's a whole other and rarely worn wardrobe!  Wearing Socks is like wearing warm hugs!  I had forgotten that.

When Tim and I returned from our chilly walk yesterday, I had rosy cheeks!  Weather created rosy cheeks I should say and quite honestly, it looked good on me. We will not, however, discuss my windswept hair.  Yikes!  That took awhile to comb out.

I find that I sleep a little better on a night when the air around me is cold but I'm snug and warm in my little blanket nest. The kittyboys snuggle with us in the evening on the sofa instead of romping through the house like lunatics.

I cook differently too.  I made a batch of chili on Monday and look forward to having yet another bowl of it for dinner tonight.  It's hearty and hot and fills every crevice - especially when served with corn bread. Yumm.  I never make chili in summer. it would be too hot, too heavy, too wintery.  Stews, Roasts, casseroles and maybe one day soon some home made bread.  Lots of baking happens in colder weather too. Everybody around here is a fan of that!

I even like being on the beach when it's inclement and everyone else is steering clear. For one thing, I'm usually there alone or nearly so, and that is always a treat.  But the beach is different, the water is different, even the air is different when it's cold too.  Cold weather photos almost  always come out crystal clear.  

As it so happens, right this moment it's 66 degrees inside with no windows open and it's 47 degrees outside and a tiny bit breezy.  The breeze is filled with cold damp ocean air which makes it feel even cooler and today's high is predicted to be 57.  I know that's very comfortable compared to the places that are battling single digit temps and even negative numbers, but for us, that's not chilly, that's flat out cold.  And even if you were a visitor to Florida from a more wintery place, you probably only brought summer clothes which are just not sufficient at the moment.  So what you gonna do?

I'll tell you what most people do, they either make an emergency trip to Walmart for cheapo throw-away-able clothes or they visit the shops on the Avenue for better quality, more expensive, more weather appropriate clothes that they can take back home and continue to wear.  Only a very few, super hearty and stubborn souls, wear their summery vacation clothes anyway and walk around all goose bumpy with their hands in their pockets, half folded into themselves and shivering but denying that they are doing so all the while.  Visitors and locals alike are doing their best to stay inside where it's hopefully warmer.

I, on the other hand, am not avoiding being outside.  I bundle up, wear my layers, and walk around in the windy chill, nose running a little bit, cheeks pinkening, eyes watering, trying to absorb every nuance, every element, every miniscule detail so that I can replay it in August when I am so hot that I fear that I will spontaneously burst into flames.  In fact, the only thing I do not especially enjoy about our unusual and colder days lately is stepping out of a nice hot shower or a cozy warm bed barefoot onto a freezing cold tile floor.  Few things are colder than a Florida tile floor on a cold day.   But other than that, I'm good to go.

According to the ten-day forecast, I guess it's going to be cooler than normal around here for awhile longer.   Excellent, I say as I sit here drinking endless cups of hot water to warm me up from the outside in.  I relish the uniqueness and look forward to Joy's and my planned photo safari hike tomorrow which will be teeth chatteringly, shiveringly, cold but fun.  

Here's to the unexpected!  It's good to shake things up a bit once in awhile.  Thanks Mother Nature for a few weeks of cold to remind us how lucky we are to usually have warm.