January 23rd, 2020

The heat has been turned on in our house.  And that's just crazy.  We live in Florida for heaven's sakes.  The land of sunshine and oranges and eternal summer, right?  That's what everyone believes anyway.

Doesn't matter.  It's still January which is winter and occasionally winter even comes to Florida.  Albeit a much gentler version than other places.

Our winter began on Tuesday.  Yup up until the 21st of January it will still perpetual summer (or at least Spring) here.  Then Monday night the temperatures took a nosedive and we woke up to some serious chill.  

Of course all of the windows in the house were open because this time of year, that's what we do.  After three months (July, August and September) of windows slammed shut and the AC blasting to fight against Florida summer, we are desperate for fresh air and the windows are creaked back open and - for the most part- left that way.  A teensy bit of early morning or night time briskness is no big deal.  I'll put on a sweater and socks or cuddle under the sofa blanket for that little bit of time.

I think we sleep better with the windows open and that lovely fresh air coming in.  I know the house smells better; newer, nicer, fresher!  When the house is sealed up, even though I know for a fact that the house is clean, the air smells and feels old and stale. Yuck.

But here you go, most Florida houses have tile floors.  I makes sense.  Tile floors are almost impervious to the damage of sand and salt water and they are cooler on hot days.  Florida has a lot of hot days.  On cooler days however, those floors are chilly.  On cold days they are downright icey!!

So waking up Tuesday morning to all that chilly (45 degrees) air in the room made it hard to crawl out of my nice warm nest of a bed.  But stepping barefoot onto those icey cold tile floors was an act of great courage.  I had Pilates Class first thing that day so trying to decide what on earth I could wear to class that would allow me freedom of movement and yet keep me from freezing to death was tricky.  I finally cobbled something ridiculous looking together, put on a sweatjacket over it all and stepped out into the unusually low temps and a brisk sea-damp wind to walk to class.  The sun was out but she was in a mood. Clearly I survived but I tell ya, nothing will encourage a quick pace like chilly temperatures.

Tuesday night, we were smarter and closed the windows.  We were forewarned that the thermometer was going to drop even lower.  And it did.  Before the sun rose on Wednesday morning, the mercury bottomed out at 32.  Officially Freezing.  Before we went to bed that night I hauled out our down comforter.

When we lived in Colorado a down comforter made perfect sense.  Even though the air is dry (which means the temperature almost always feels warmer than it actually is and especially on a sunny winter day) below zero is still freakin' cold.  And Colorado has actual winter.  The season.  With sun and ice and stuff like that.  So owning a down comforter is just a logical sensible normal thing to do.  Not so much in Florida.

BUT since we already owned it, I brought it with us.  Why?  I think mostly because they are expensive and I just couldn't bear to throw it away.  (*who would want someone else's previously used bedding?)  So in spite of other people's pooh-poohing my decision, and even though we sold almost every other thing that we owned before moving here, the comforter came with us.

I packed it up in the giant plastic zippy container that it originally came in.  And there it stays, in the utility room on a high shelf, until needed.  And Tuesday night, it was needed.  I was so glad that we had it.  We snuggied down into that lovely poofy warm down comforter and slept like innocent puppies. It was glorious.

Until it was time to get up.  By the time we draggged our sorry butts out of bed the temperature had risen to 36.  Heat Wave.  The wind was still blowing winter at us and the windows (mostly) stayed closed.  The bedroom window was still cracked open a little bit. And it was so hard to make myself step out onto that cold floor.

Yesterday was a working at the museum day for me so I have to look at least halfway nice so I layered.  Long pants, long sleeved shirt, pull-over sweater, my pea-coat, scarf and (I seriously did this) gloves.  At least I didn't put on a hat.  Tim walked with me and even he had on long pants and a fleece jacket which is practically unheard of.

I actually kind of enjoyed the cooler temperatures for a short time.  The sun was still shining, there was absolutely no snow or ice or anything that might remotely require shoveling, and it was a nice change of pace frankly.  Perhaps it's because I do have some winter-ish clothes that it's no big deal to me.  I felt badly for any tourists visiting who - logically assuming that Florida equals beaches equals shorts and bathing suits - might not have packed appropriate to the temps this week.  But we have lots of shops so I suppose they can always buy a sweatshirt or a pair of socks?

Today it has warmed up a bit more so I think our "winter" is on it's way out.   It was only in the 40s again last night and should warm up to high 50's today.  Tomorrow, we will all be in shorts again.

A 3-day winter.  Yup that's Florida for you.  Not bad.

Today I will somehow manage to wrestle that comforter back into it's giant zippy bag and haul, drag, push and shove it back onto that shelf in the utility room.  The windows will be opened again and the heat turned off once more.

It was just a little intermission in our gorgeous weather.  Kind of like a reminder to appreciate what we have because it could be So. Much. Worse!

At the museum I meet a lot of people. I mean a LOT !  And most of them are visiting here from somewhere else. Some places with serious winter.   And they are so incredibly grateful for our sunshine and mild weather in the winter.  It's why there are so many snowbirds in this state.  And it's also one of the reasons why Florida is one of the states currently receiving new residents.  People are moving here in DROVES! 

Can't say that I blame them one single bit.

There it is.  The story of the 3-day winter.  Florida the state where the only skiing going on is water skiing.  Nice :)