I love winter. I really do. I love the cold, the wind and whatever is thrown at us in precipitation. Snow, rain, ice, it’s all wonderful.
Today is a blustery day. Yes, I know, I live in the south. It can’t be that blustery. But, yes, it is a blustery day today.
I just came in from walking our dog. The moon is bright in the clear sky. The flags on the porches are all blowing straight out, like they have been starched stiff. The wind is whipping around the cul-de-sac and down the hill (well, as much of a hill that can be found here in the Lowcountry).
As I walked up the hill, I thought how blustery it is. I chuckled because I know there were times in my life that I would consider this weather a hot spell. So, as I walked our little Shugo, I thought of the different places I have lived and the blustery days I have experienced.
Being born and raised in Northwestern Pennsylvania, I know what cold is. I know what snow is. I have fallen on ice walking to and from school, uphill, downhill, two miles along.
From there I went to Norfolk, VA. We lived in a small cheap beach apartment the winter before we were transferred to Japan. We would turn on the wall heating unit before heading to bed and wake up in the morning to see a mound of sand gathered on the floor around the heating unit, which was stone cold…. Youth and young love made me think this was wonderful!
In Japan we lived on a converted WWII Japanese airstrip. We lived in occupation era Navy houses. The view was incredible, Mt. Fuji and Sagami Wan (bay), but our house was one all by itself at the end of the runway and we had nothing in front of our house except open field. The wind would whip up and buffet that little house and it would almost knock me over every time we left the house in the winter. Of course, now it most likely wouldn’t move me at all, since I was young and skinny back then.
From Japan, we went to Maine. Need I say more about knowing what cold is like? When the temperature rose to O degrees we thought it was spring! I loved the winter in Maine and the other two seasons, July and August. It is heaven on earth and I would move back there in a minute. Snow, ice, wind chill and all. It is truly God’s country.
From Maine we thawed out in San Diego. I know you are thinking, no bluster there. You are right for the most part, but, living there as long as I did, I saw some frost, and even a hint of snow. And, we went for a 40 minute ride to the mountains to experience our wind and cold. The last Valentine’s Day in California, hubby and I actually took a ride in the mountains and got snowed in up there. It was cold and windy and very snowy outside the beautifully warm bed and breakfast we landed in.
So, I have decided blustery days happen everywhere. Those days that chill you to the bone. Where you come inside and think of warm drinks and warm jammies. Tonight is like that and I am very content and happy that my hands got cold as did my cheeks while I walked our dog. Who knows, I may decide he needs to go back out again, just so I can enjoy this winter feeling.
~ DAF
