Summer is over, and the skies are grey. But we seem to have skipped fall altogether! One day it was 85, the next day we have grey skies, wind, and rain. It doesn't seem like fall at all. Where are the falling leves of gold and brown, and the days were mellow like Indian Summer? A lot of folks, just like myself, don't mind the change in weather. My feet swell up in the summer, and the days were hot and dull. But many others can't get it hot enough! At least here in sunny San Diego. With beaches to frequent, it isn't surprising.
But I like the rain and the cloudy skies and the occasionsl clap of thunder, or a flash of lightening. My daughter went out yesterday and clipped all the newly blooming roses from our rose garden and we brought them in to enjoy rather than letting the winds blow them helter-skelter. They smell so good! Their rich, warm colors are a nice touch in the living room.
I spent 3 years in Kodiak, Alaska where the warmest days of summer got up to 65 degrees! In the winter, the perma-frost would turn the first rains of winter into sheets of ice, and the temperature would dip to 10 below 0. There were storms in the winter months called willawahs and the winds got up to 100 MPH. We got use to it I guess, because we would walk to school in that and find our way home in blinding blizzards! I remember one day especially when my glasses
iced up and everything was white. You couldn't see anything beyond the reach of your own arm. I don't know how I ever made it home.
One time, our Mom came to get us at school because of the weather, and the car wouldn't climb the hill to get to the main road. She had started walking and some man gave her a ride to the school. I saw her go past my English class and her shoulders were heaped up with snow! She was headed to the kindergarten class to get my baby sister first. When she collected my brother and myself, we
left the building and she had us get in the car of the man who had given her a ride so he would take us to our car. When the owner of the car came out of the school and got in his car, he just stared at us. It was the wrong car. But when she told him the story of how the other person had given her a ride, he just laughed and asked us to show him where we wanted to go and he drove us to our car. Very understanding fellow!
I have also lived in Minnesota, and the temperature dipped to a chilly 55 degrees below zero! No one went out on days like that. I swear, at 10 degrees below zero, the sun came out and the snow began to melt! I went out on the porch to get the mail and I had shorts on. Bizzare weather to say the least. So, when the snow melted all the way, and Spring had come, I called the airlines in St. Paul and got a ticket for San Diego! I was 18 1/2 and I had had enough snow to last me a lifetime!
Somehow I have never regretted that decision. There have been scorching days when snow looked inviting, but never enough to make me leave California and look for a state that has snow in the winter. We have rain, and if you want to see snow, you can go to the mountains in the winter. But I'll take San Diego, and the heat, and the occasional earthquake, and rain in the winter! No more snow for me. The way the population has increased, I think there are a lot of people who agree with me. The sunny skies of San Diego have always felt like home to me. There are balmy days, cloudy days, rainy days, and enough variety to suit me. San Diego is pretty much perfect. I will never forget the lights of the city coming on as my plane flew low over the tall buildings of "Home", and I have never been unhappy enough in the heat, to move to any other place.
San Diego, you are just my cup of tea. . . or glass of iced tea! No matter the temperature, you will always be home to me!
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