Day 301
Weather. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again … it’s fascinating to me. I should have studied meteorology at some point in my life.
I’d make a great weather-gal … I could point to suns and clouds like the best of them and say things like … “There is a high ridge of low pressure … ” and “Darkness clearing by morning.”
Today was another quasi-Spring-like day. December 1st and it’s 59 degrees at nearly midnight. Craziness! I know it’s technically almost winter and our temps should be colder; we are to have highs twenty some degrees colder coming later this week … but I’ll take days like today as long as I can get them! I feel like I’ve been transported to Florida!
It’s wet out. It’s not raining or even misting yet my concrete patio is wet … the air is saturated and carries the scent of earth and rain and decaying leaves and a hint of nostalgia. It’s wonderful.
The feel of the air … soft and damp … transports me back in time some 40 years to my first trip to Florida. My family drove down for Spring break … I was in Junior High.
I remember passing trees with Spanish moss hanging down and was mesmerized by the beauty and creepiness of it. I’d never seen anything like it before. And then we arrived in Panama City … palm trees and ocean. It was Paradise.
We walked the beach that first night … stepping around and over washed up Man o’ War – their blue and pink bubblegum bellies puffed up against the sand. We walked around the brown, rubbery kelp that stretched along the shoreline like miles of discarded rope. The tang of the air tickled our noses.
The air smelled so good … so fresh … so clean … so salty. It was that unmistakable smell that stays with you long after you’ve gone home … that combination of humidity, ocean salt spray and sand. Yummy!
I remember watching the mussels disappear into the sand and watching for the squirt of water rising up from their holes as they settled in.
Tonight the air here is such air. If I didn’t know better I could close my eyes and except for the absence of the sounds of the ocean, I’d say I was at the ocean. So, this weather can continue … I don’t mind feeling like I’ve been transported to Florida. I get the benefits without having to waste a day on travel. I don’t have to worry about Jaws or sun poisoning and yet … I am there. Ahhhh … deep breaths.
I’ve decided to gift myself each day and take a walk every afternoon at twilight … despite or in appreciation of the weather. The light is so pretty after the sun goes down. So, I started off my month walking in the balminess of Florida, soaking up the damp air and enjoying the holiday lights in the gathering dusk as night starts to settle in.
All too soon the winds of change will be blowing around here again … bringing colder temps and inevitably … snow.
I don’t know what weather surprises lie in store for the rest of this month … but I do know I won’t be disappointed.