Mmmmm… the weather has been lovely. It is autumn in San Diego. And a warm one at that!
It’s nice because, like the Midwest, we do get the change of color, albeit not the glorious ubiquitous colors seen back east. And we do get the crunchy leaves underfoot on the sidewalks, though not quite enough to rake into a pile one could jump into. Well, I guess you COULD jump into your pile of leaves, but not safely. Watch that tailbone!
We don’t get that smoky fall smell of leaf piles illegally burning in your neighbor’s back yard, either. Which I admit, I actually miss quite a lot. We do, however get the blustery-sweet sweater weather and the dramatic clouds.
In exchange for this not-quite-as-stunning-as-the-Midwest autumn, we get to have our autumn without the ominous impending doom of winter. Oh no.
Our winter rocks.
In SoCal, we get rain in the winter. We get moist, drenching rain, and kids wearing puddle-jumpers and wellies. We get umbrellas and windshield wipers, followed by gloriously clean, blue, wide open skies. We also get bright sunny days when you can wear shorts and a sweatshirt. One Christmas, when I lived in LA County, we had a barbecue and a rousing Frisbee game because it was 80 degrees! We also get the silliness of Christmas lights strung around palm trees and Santa sleighs out on the green front lawns of tract homes. Strange but sweet. Rain, sun, a few fallen leaves...
And then the magic happens.
Most of our year, the wild grasses on the mountains that surround us are brown. Sometimes they are even on fire! But in the wintertime, like some kind of Brigadoon, the world renews itself. With the rain comes green grass on the mountains, new life and wildflowers! It is southern California's renewal, its true spring.
It’s nice because, like the Midwest, we do get the change of color, albeit not the glorious ubiquitous colors seen back east. And we do get the crunchy leaves underfoot on the sidewalks, though not quite enough to rake into a pile one could jump into. Well, I guess you COULD jump into your pile of leaves, but not safely. Watch that tailbone!
We don’t get that smoky fall smell of leaf piles illegally burning in your neighbor’s back yard, either. Which I admit, I actually miss quite a lot. We do, however get the blustery-sweet sweater weather and the dramatic clouds.
In exchange for this not-quite-as-stunning-as-the-Midwest autumn, we get to have our autumn without the ominous impending doom of winter. Oh no.
Our winter rocks.
In SoCal, we get rain in the winter. We get moist, drenching rain, and kids wearing puddle-jumpers and wellies. We get umbrellas and windshield wipers, followed by gloriously clean, blue, wide open skies. We also get bright sunny days when you can wear shorts and a sweatshirt. One Christmas, when I lived in LA County, we had a barbecue and a rousing Frisbee game because it was 80 degrees! We also get the silliness of Christmas lights strung around palm trees and Santa sleighs out on the green front lawns of tract homes. Strange but sweet. Rain, sun, a few fallen leaves...
And then the magic happens.
Most of our year, the wild grasses on the mountains that surround us are brown. Sometimes they are even on fire! But in the wintertime, like some kind of Brigadoon, the world renews itself. With the rain comes green grass on the mountains, new life and wildflowers! It is southern California's renewal, its true spring.
And it's just around the corner...
Oh...
And if we want snow, we drive up and play in it.
So there!
And if we want snow, we drive up and play in it.
So there!
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