October 30th, 2020

It's two weeks late but finally Autumn has arrived here in Venice Florida. 

 Oh there were a few false starts earlier just to tease us way back in September.  A day here and there when the temps were milder and the humidity lower and we began to believe that maybe summer would be over early for a change this year.  But nope.  The temperature rose again and dashed that hope in a hurry.

And then it happened again earlier in October.  For quite a few days in a row it was suddenly a little cooler out, the air felt drier and there was a tinge of cooler air in the breeze when the wind blew.  And we thought, well, it's on time.  And then it  warmed up and became a little more humid once again.

But this time, it's for real.  Better late than never I suppose.  It's a welcome change.  The windows are open all over the house and I'm wearing a shirt with sleeves and seriuosly considering making either donuts or cinnamon rolls today.  Very Autumnish.

And I have to laugh at myself because earlier this week, in conversation with a friend back in Colorado, I learned that not only had it snowed a lot in the Mile High State over that weekend but in the exact moment that she was speaking to me, her thermometer was registering a whopping 9 degrees.  That's 9.  One less than 10, one more than 8.  She said it was, and I quote, "a little chilly".  The funny part is that as she is saying that to me, it was 76 degrees here and I was wearing a cardigan sweater  because I was feeling, "a little chilly" too.

My conclusion was that if I was in Colorado at 9 degrees now I would simply freeze to death and that would be the end of it.  Or rather me, I suppose.

I know that it's all relative.  We all know that.   Einstein proved it to be true.  But it still kind of wows me when it reveals itself in my life over and over again.

And we adapt.  I'm good at adapting.  I've lived in a lots of different places with lots of different kinds of weather.

I was born in Chicago, a place with notoriously wicked winters. Also lived in Missouri which was not an improvement winter-wise.  Connecticut?  Cold, grey, snowy, icey.....check, check, check, check and Colorado which can have snow literally any day of the year.  So I've done the wintery winter thing.  I know how to dress for it. I used to own long underwear and I totally get dressing in layers.

But I've also lived in Southern California, Texas and now Florida.  Not so wintery.  And I know how to do that too.  Wearing shorts with a sweatshirt feels perfectly normal to me here.   But so does being cold enough to put on long pants, long sleeved shirts and closed toed shoes before the mercury dips below 65 degrees because I'm uncomfortably cool.  

I suppose we can just say that I have adjusted.

I confess that I sometimes miss the pretty autumn leaves and that brisk little bite to the nose that is the perfect excuse for drinking my weight in hot chocolate (heavy on the marshmallows).  And I will freely admit that few things are as pretty as brand new snow with the sun sparkling on it immediately after a storm.

BUT I do not miss shoveling snow.  I do not miss driving on slip'n'slide icey roads.  I do not miss power outages due to heavy snow laden tree branches falling on the power lines.  I do not miss achey cold bones and constantly mopping up wet dirty footsteps in the front hall.

So all in all, I guess I can deal with being laughed at by my friends who live in genuinely wintery places when I complain of being too cold at 60 degrees as long as they can deal with me walking on the beach in the sunshine on Christmas Day.  

Seems like a fair trade.

Have a Great  Weekend ya'll.