“Welcome, winter. Your late dawns and chilled breath make me lazy, but I love you nonetheless.”
Cloudy still, but finally the rain has stopped. Even the wind of last night has calmed and everything is quiet. Some leaves still hang from oak branches despite all that weather. Pine needles are everywhere covering lawns, driveways and my deck. If I had awakened from a coma and looked out the window, I’d know it was fall.
Each season has its own identity, but the identities sometimes blur when moving from one season to another. A few weeks ago was late summer and shirt-sleeve weather. My friends and I ate on the deck. Winter then sneaked in for a bit and we had temperatures in the high 30’s. Now, though, summer has finally gone and fall is here. The days are in the 50’s but the nights are colder, into the high 40’s. It isn’t yet jacket weather. A sweatshirt will suffice.
I saw where many places got snow: my sister got 3 or 4 inches in Colorado, but the mountains got far more. She said it was cold, down to the teens at night. It was sort of a run of the mill storm for her because her first snow is usually in late October or early November. She says 3 or 4 inches is nothing. I agree. I think of a snowstorm with so little snow as a sweeper, a broom instead of a shovel.
When I was a kid, any amount of snow was worthwhile. A huge storm was always the best as that would mean no school and a day spent outside building forts, throwing snowballs or sledding down the hill. A storm of tree or four inches meant fun after school, but it also brought the horrors of snow boots and ski pants. I could never get my shoes out of my boots without taking the boots off and pulling the shoes out. The ski pants went under my uniform skirt. I hated the look of the skirt over the pants, but my mother insisted as my legs would be so red from the snow and the cold when I’d get home if I didn’t wear them.
I can remember sitting at my desk looking out the window and seeing branches bent lower from the snow, the outside windows sills holding snow piles and snow falling from an occasional squall. I think all of us, my classmates and I, spent the day sighing.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: boots, cloudy, fall, leaves falling, pine needles, seasons, ski pants, Snow, snow squalls, sweatshirt weather, winter
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
November 12, 2015 at 12:57 pm
It rained so heavily here this morning that both dogs refused to go outside to the dog house when I was leaving for work, I almost had to force them 🙂 Lots of sunshine later in the day, something no weather service had predicted 🙂
We should have winter here now but autumn refuses to leav which I think is rather nice 🙂 I’ve never liked sno, no matter how beautiful it looks in photographs so every day without it is a good day 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
November 12, 2015 at 2:30 pm
Christer,
On Tuesday through Wednesday we had 1.7 inches of rain. It has rained some more, but I don’t know how much.
Gracie will go out in the rain only when she really has to go, and that could take hours and hours.
We’re still in the throes of autumn. We’ll start having cold days as November gets older.
Have a great day!
November 12, 2015 at 1:15 pm
My trusty Toro has years of service, trusty but pushing on. I have been lured in by a rather attractive Toro Snowmaster that promises to swallow 2 feet of snow at a time regardless of depth and, for my endless entertainment, to hurl it 40 feet. I am expecting a liaison on Saturday and perhaps a long term association
November brings the siren call of guy stuff and snow
November 12, 2015 at 2:32 pm
My Dear Hedley,
My dad always stayed with his hand lawn mower. He religiously got it sharpened every spring so I get the siren call of guy stuff. I don’t hear it, but I know guys do.
That new Toro sounds like a WMD.
November 12, 2015 at 3:26 pm
WMD or a Chick Magnet.
November 12, 2015 at 4:14 pm
MDH,
I’m eager to know the answer!
November 12, 2015 at 1:36 pm
Day broke. It’s all … bright! How can we correct this sad state of affairs? But, everything, as said by Ecclesiastes and reiterated by The Byrds and countless others, has its season. Turn turn turn. Yada yada. Buy one, get a second one free! Curse you, Goddess of Free Association Writing!
We’re blurring slowly from Autumn to Fall and – before long – winter. I appreciate Christer’s dislike of snow, but can’t join in it. I like snow – I hate ice. Too often, they’re in lockstep. That’s why I buy the Stuff In A Can called ‘HEET’. Marvelous little product. But wait! … There’s more! Our temp here has dropped into the 60s during daylight hours and in the upper 40s after sundown. I could get used to this. The windows in the apartment are open so I can bring in all the cold air I can deal with. During the summer, the windows are shut and the AC is on. That means I’m (a) uncomfortable and (b) looking at higher-than-desired electric bills. Thanks, Obama. How ’bout taking away even more of our generating capacity before you slink down the corridors of history?
My brother loved CO when he was stationed there with the USAF. Then he got to visit Canada, and next Iceland. He was stationed at Hofn and his wife was at Reykjavik. He loved the volcanoes and got some great pictures. He also got some pix of Soviet ‘Bear’ bombers with F-4 Phantoms escorting them out of our airspace. In one, the tail gunner is waving back. He must have been assigned’Friendly Russian’ duties that day.
We never had to worry about wearing boots or ski pants. No need in N’Awlins. We did, tho’, have those smelly and overly complicated rubber galoshes with the multil-stepped metal fasteners that y’ could never operate with gloves on. Those always added that ‘special something’ to the fragrance of the cloak room. Yeah, warm rubber and wet wool … can’t beat it.
Your walk back to when you could see the snow-heavy branches bent over reminds me of similar sights I’ve had since moving to Memphis. As long as I can stay inside and admire the beauty, I’m a happy camper. If I hafta go out and walk on the iced sidewalks, well, whatever needs doin’ outside will have to wait ’til the ice is gone. I can’t think of anything so important that I should risk a broken bone – or multiples thereof – for. See how important prior planning is in our day-to-day life?
November 12, 2015 at 2:43 pm
Richard,
It is even darker now than it was this morning. It looks ominous, but they’re saying no rain. If that is so, give me the sun!!
I live in a double zone: AC all summer and heat all winter. It is about 50˚ today so my heat is intermittent, less than more. It does blast its little heart out in the morning as the house is cold all night.
I really liked Iceland, and I was there in the wintertime. I think it was light for about 5 hours. Reykjavik is a lovely city. My mother even sniffed out the only Irish pub and had a few Irish coffees to ward away the chill.
We had boots you slide over your shoes. I’d sit in a chair, my mother would be in front of me, I’d extend my leg and she’d work to get the boot over the shoe. Sometimes I’d have to stand and stomp the shoe into the last part. My father had the boots you mention. I think around here they were men’s boots. Our cloakroom was outside the class but was sort of in the hall so it never got too pungent.
I always de-ice the steps for the dog so she is safe going into the yard. I also de-ice the two front steps for me. I use dog safe crystals. I’m with you-I stay in as long as i can. Let the sun, if it comes, do its job. It usually melts the shoveled parts so I get a safe walkway.
All this talk of snow has given me a headache!!