At least where I am living it has... I actually broke out a pair of shorts from the "summer clothes" tote and wore them and my sandals all day. It was terrific...I am so glad to see winter out the door. I imagine I am only a day or so away from unpacking all the summer stuff and putting the winter stuff away for good...assuming I get my papers done for school first.
Usually each year, my sister and I decorate Easter Eggs (even though we don't have kids and we don't hide them). It is just something we do for fun, to hold on to the inner child I guess (we also dress up for Hallloween). This year I was not able to get to her part of the country before Easter so we have not done it, but I will be there in a few weeks and we will do it then. Anyhow, I realized yesterday that hardboiled eggs are a taste that reminds me of Spring.
Growing up, I lived in a region of the US that gets all 4 seasons for about 3 months each. As a kid, each season probably seemed too long, but as an adult that has lived all over now, I can't believe how good I had it weather-wise growing up. We had snow in winter, hot dry summers with evening thunderstorms, flowery springs and leave-changing falls. Of course every once in a while we would get some kind of fluke thing, like snow before Tday or after Easter, but it was not usual.
There were days when you could walk out in the morning and just feel that the season had changed. I think that my senses are very sensitive to season change. There are things in daily life that just feel like one season or another. The way the shadow falls at a certain time of day, or the sound of lawnmowers cutting grass, small planes flying overheard (both summer things for me) can trigger that nostalgia for a season. A few weeks ago, I was eating strawberries (don't ask me how we had strawberries in winter, but we did) and I have determined that strawberries are a summer taste for me....
On a side note (speaking of shadows falling) one year my husband and I went to Alaska on vacation in June near the longest day of the year. Well, it doesn't really get dark there during the month of June (in some areas the whole summer) and that really messed with my head. We would be fishing up some small stream and the way the shadows were falling told my inner clock that it was about 4:30pm and we should be looking at getting going so we can work on dinner back at the campsite. I look down at my watch and it was almost 9pm at night!!!! Very strange indeed, I don't know how people that live there get used to that or the terrible opposite in the winter with it being dark all the time....
Anyhow, I just wanted to express my joy at seeing Spring here. We have lots of trees in bloom (although our dogwood has not bloomed yet) and flowers sprouting up all over the place. I am sure in a few months, I will be wishing for the hot muggy summer to be over but for now, I am thrilled to see the sun and have it mean temps over 60 degrees....yeah!!!!
5 comments:
I'm slightly envious that you are already able to bust out the shorts. I'm sitting here in my office in a sweater and long pants and wore a jacket to work. But we do have the spring flowers up! And those are beautiful.
I miss Alaska! I lived there for 5 years. I remember my first night there, it was August, and I was sitting on a porch talking to someone and suddenly realized it was after 11:00 but it seemed like just 4:30.
Don't worry, in a couple of weeks I will be in the NW freezing my butt off for 10 days, just so I don't forget what winter feels like I guess....
It has been raining off and on in the NW but we have had some good days. Hopefully you'll catch some of those. Since we had a warm wave in winter all of the plants were tricked and bloomed early so some of spring will be here for you.
I was in AK for five years, too. When you live there, the loss or gain of sunlight is just a few minutes each day, so you gradually move into shorter or longer days. It is definitely more jarring when you first arrive, but you get used to it. I always had to come back to CA sometime in mid-winter though, but I just needed some sun! It was usually right around Spring Break time anyway.
Every day on the radio, they would announce sunrise and sunset and whether or not we gained or lost daylight. It was so exciting on winter solstice when we'd get to hear them say something like "A gain of 8 minutes." :)
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