I am doing something I have not attempted in 10 years since we moved to FL....I'm traveling north to New England in December...pretty scary for someone who doesn't do cold anymore. Just a quick late Friday to late Sunday 2-night trip, but it looks like the odds are against me...there is a 30% chance a bit of the white stuff may fall from the sky before the end of my weekend in Boston.
Roger, the weatherman in our family, keeps sending me the updated 10-day weather forecast...thanks honey...I APPRECIATE your meteorological diligence...please do your best to remove the snowflakes from my computer screen...they are most unwelcome.
Not to say we have not seen snow falling out of the sky since we've moved to FL, in October of 2001, while flying to CA, we were rerouted through Minneapolis and were shocked to see snow coming down, as we glanced through the airport windows.
And, not to say that I have not felt snow beneath my feet in the last 10 years either...the last week of April in 2009, the six of us all ventured to New Hampshire to visit Roger's parents. I was shocked to see the large solid pile of snow in the back yard, that my father-in-law had saved for us. Well, not really, but it sure sounded good...oh there was a clump there all right...he just hadn't been saving it for anyone, least of all us. You must understand that the northern regions of New England get so much snowfall during the course of one winter, that it just gets piled up all over the place. This particular stack of snow, just took a bit longer to melt than any of the others. We got such a kick out of seeing snow in April, Roger and I both insisted on posing for pictures standing on top of it...you'd think we'd never seen the stuff before. What a couple of hicks from the south!
I could feel the damp cold through my shoes...don't you just LOVE dirty old snow?!?! Yuck :(
You can take the boy out of New England.....but his heart remains in Boston with his beloved Red Sox...I mean daughter...I'm really not kidding....he'd move there in a New York...oops, another slip of the tongue....Massachusetts minute
What made the whole "pile of snow in NH in late April" even more ironic...I was visiting up north to take part in a marathon later that week in NYC and there was such a record breaking heat wave, they shortened the full marathon to a half for the runners, and a half to a quarter for the walkers....stranger things have happened...but not to me!!!!
Sun tan lotion anyone? Didn't I just have a turtleneck on yesterday....the crazy spring weather in the nether regions of the northern states...I'll take my hot muggy south FL any day...at least it's pretty consistent....hot today, followed by hot tomorrow and then a bit more heat in the 10-day forecast...ah yes...my home :)
Last Thanksgiving, Roger and I attempted something we'd never done before...we decided to spend 10 days on the road together, in a car traveling through four of the southern gulf states. And guess what....we ran into some "snow" HUH???
Outside of Harrah's Casino in New Orleans, they'd set up a "winter wonderland" scene complete with "snow" and since I'm such a big "fan" of the white stuff... I couldn't resist posing for a few pictures...
The irony of it all...and yes that is a shit eating grin on my face...it was windy and very cold (at least to me) during most of our stay in NOLA...so I did freeze my butt off even without any real snow entering into the equation.
I had two layers on under my suede jacket, then the scarf around my neck and the wrap around everything, to keep in what little warmth my poor body could generate...what I needed was a pair of gloves...my hands were freezing and that wrap was just not cutting it....have I mentioned I don't like to be cold????
So, as I unpack my suitcase from last weekend's cruise...think sundresses, flip flops and capris...and hunt down my gloves, turtlenecks, boots and leather coat, I look forward to frostbitten fingers....ooops, I mean giving my daughter a big hug and a kiss when I see her sweet face in less than 7 days. Seriously, I'm honestly kidding. A little cold now and again for these old bones is a good thing...it truly makes me appreciate all that Stacey, Scott, Taryn and Brian go through each winter as the seasons change and they struggle to survive the icy cold northern temperatures. I've done it all, seen my share of snow storms and ice storms...gotten stranded on a highway with a frozen battery, in the dead of winter with two toddlers in the back seat and even skidded down an ice covered hill at midnight and destroyed my mother's car a week before my own wedding.
I ALWAYS have more clothes on than anyone else...outside party on the lake in northern Michigan, Sept. 25th, the night before Taryn & Brian's wedding. Me in a turtleneck, furry vest, warm pants and boots...almost everyone else, skimpy dresses and sandals...who do you think was warmer when the sun went down???
Stacey showing me that even before day turned to night, she could see her breath...we were all in for a chilly evening....come on folks, it's NORTHERN Michigan at the end of September!
Although it did get very crowded around that fire pit later that night, I'm guessing the folks were kept a bit warm by the free flowing alcohol everyone was enjoying :) it was an incredible evening, followed be an even more incredible day..hard to believe more than a year has gone by.
In closing, I make this simple request....during this holiday season, the next time you hear those familiar words coming from the radio or your favorite Christmas CD, think of me enjoying the 60's in the mornings and the 80's (still????) at noon...and be careful what you wish for because the weather has never been perfect in ANYPLACE I've ever lived!
Oh the weather outside is frightful....
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