Longing for the warmer days of spring
”
The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day
is another,
”
wrote poet Henry Van Dyke, and how right he was.
I’m longing for spring, despite the fact that the weather is
telling me otherwise. It was a crazy cold weekend, with some of my
friends in Aromas getting snow
– real snow – on Saturday, and a dusting of the white stuff all
over the hills around San Juan Bautista and Hollister.
Longing for the warmer days of spring
“The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another,” wrote poet Henry Van Dyke, and how right he was.
I’m longing for spring, despite the fact that the weather is telling me otherwise. It was a crazy cold weekend, with some of my friends in Aromas getting snow – real snow – on Saturday, and a dusting of the white stuff all over the hills around San Juan Bautista and Hollister.
It isn’t unusual to have big cold masses of air settle over Central California at this time of year, but it seems like such a dirty trick for Mother Nature to play on us.
T.S. Eliot wrote, “April is the cruelest month,” but not in California. Here, it’s got to be March.
And March is going to be coolish and wettish for a while. Not as cold as this past weekend, but cool enough to bother me.
After all, just a few weeks ago we were all running around in shorts in 70-degree weather. And now – well – it’s really darn cold.
I was wearing tank tops. Really. Not that long ago.
What is happening is that I’m officially sick of winter, and spring should be here, but it isn’t.
Daffodils are blooming, and clouds of blossoms are nesting in the ornamental cherry trees in defiance of the cold, but it just isn’t the same as having some lovely warm weather to enjoy the sight.
Of course, if I ever admit to hating the cold, immediately I get bombarded with the following comments: “Oh, come on! You live in California! This isn’t a real winter, like the kind they have back East! That’s where it’s really cold.”
Well, yes. California is not really as cold as a lot of places, but I admit, as a native Californian, that I am a wimp when it comes to these things. So is my dog, who needs the heated seat in the car and his sweatshirt when we go anywhere these days.
In short: I am a wimp. My dog is a wimp. My sons, however, wear the same ensemble winter, spring and summer, and the cold seems to affect them not one bit.
Right now, I am wearing two sweaters and a sweatshirt, jeans and sneakers and socks, and I am still cold. I am about to run and get the Snuggie.
I think it’s just time for things to change. Winter is all well and good, but I’m just tired of it. And after spring is here for a while, I’ll be ready for the next change. And after the heat of summer is over, I will welcome the cooler temperatures of fall.
I guess I’m just fickle that way.
March should be the start of something new, and I know it will be, but it’s always a dance that goes one step forward and two steps back. March will come in like a lion and go out like a lamb – or is it the other way around? – and April will be more settled, prettier, more temperate.
I know these things because that’s always the way it is, and yet I am impatient for what’s to come.
Maybe even more impatient this year because we had a dismal cool summer last year, and I want some heat.
Yes, that’s me, dreaming of summer even as the frost is decorating the grass and posts outside. Foolish, I know, but there it is.
My shorts and tank tops are back in the dresser for now. But I know where they are. I’m ready.
Write to Kathy Nichols at
ou************@ya***.com
.
