Now that I am returned to the land of rain and pretentious coffee, I have a little more meditating to do about sunlight and seasons. The thing that blew my mind while I was in Arizona was something my best friend said: “Spring is like our summer here. Summer is basically winter.” At first I was confused, but then it clicked: there are certain behaviours that I, in my Coloradan psychotope, associate with winter. I think of staying inside for more of the time, and only really going outside to do winter-specific activites. I think of frostbite. I think of letting my garden die off. I think of going from my heated house to my heated car to my heated workplace and back. But then, I think of Phoenix is the summer. It’s hotter than more reasonable visions of Hell. You go from your air-conditioned house to your air-conditioned car to your air-conditioned workplace and back. You try to stay inside unless perhaps you’re doing some kind of summer-specific water activity. You worry about heat stroke. You let your garden die off, or at least your lawn. (Many people in Phoenix seemed to be wise enough to use natives/cacti for their landscaping purposes.) So, summer is in effect winter, at least in terms of behaviour.
Overall, I definitely prefer the turbulent Seattle springtime to any other spring I’ve experienced. Spring in Colorado lasts maybe a week. The seasons there are pretty much June, July, August, and winter. I like having seasons that roughly correlate with the calendar seasons. I like blustery days like today that are half sunny, half raining. I’ve been honoring the spirit of my late grandmother, an avid naturalist and gardener, by keeping a garden journal this year. I’m going on long walks, taking note of what’s blooming, writing the “flora and fauna reports” that my grandmother used to keep track of. I try to think of it as a Communing with Beauty of Nature and Tradition of Family, and not Oh God, I’m Turning Into my Mother. But really, if being connected with nature and the seasons and the garden turns me into my mother, so be it. Not enough people care about plants. And I count myself in the few and proud who do.
3 comments
Kevin, Son of Nog
April 5, 2010 at 3:00 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
My relatives in Tuscon told me the same thing when I showed up there on my birthday. They were like “We’d show you around town but this is monsoon season. It’s either blazing hot or torrential rain.” That’s the only time I’ve experienced temperatures in the triple digits for most of the day. Thankfully it was dry. I too, love spring here. It’s so wild and turbulent, feels like Mother Nature’s giving birth to spring.
And if it helps, if you’re turning into your mother then I’m slowly turning into my father. Soon I’ll be forgetting where I put my keys and falling asleep every time I try and read.
P.S. Dig the new layout.
Anne Bean
April 5, 2010 at 7:45 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Yeah, I’m not entirely sold on the new layout, but I think I like it. I’m still definitely in the “hey, look, free wordpress themes” stage of website development.
Shanna
May 7, 2010 at 11:47 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I do like this layout.
I do NOT like the epic heat that has begun. Meow.