I remember standing outside at half time during last year's Super Bowl, sipping a single malt Scotch (Glenfiddich 15 if you must know) and wearing a short sleeved t-shirt. It was the kind of day that makes you glad to live in California. It was the kind of day where you think about all the other places in the world that are bitterly cold and snowy - but the ugly muddy, slushy kind of snowy - and you wonder why everyone doesn't move south.
Of course, there are a couple hundred other days in a year where you can totally understand why people would want to stay as far away from California as possible (high unemployment, huge state deficit, smog, traffic, cost of living . . .). I bring this up today primarily because it is the Friday before the Super Bowl this year and it looks like it's going to be another nice day. 64 and sunny!
There's another thing I remember about last year. That glorious Sunday was so beautiful and it felt undeniable that we had made it through winter. But doesn't it seem that any time something is undeniable it gets denied? My favorite "old man joke" - my wife's term- goes like this: "What's the best way to make God laugh? Make a plan." We Scotch-drinking fools might as well have been drinking that day's Kool-Aid because we all believed we were headed straight for summer.
I don't remember feeling warm again until June.
So I'm trying not to get ahead of myself this year. I'm trying to hold back and remember that it's barely even February and technically winter is still here. But when I come home to something like this:
it becomes pretty hard to deny that spring is here; at least in some fashion.
And if it's not? If these daffodils are just nature's version of Fool's Gold, then so be it. At least it has made this balmy winter's day a little more colorful.
I finally found some spring blooming bulbs in my garden, so I'm ready for spring. Whether Mother Nature is or not, I guess remains to be seen. I keep having to remind myself it's only February - we're getting weather warmer than you - and it's easy to forget it could still get cold.
ReplyDeleteOne patch of daffs in my garden are so eager to start growing they pushed out a pincushion flower I had accidentally planted on top of them last fall. It was so brazen, as if it was in their way and they just shoved it to the side. I can only imagine the dialogue that might have gone along with it. :o) We've had very similar weather here, too. It was 70 the other day. Very weird!!
ReplyDeleteSpring has sprung here and we Texans know all too well that a hard freeze is probably just around the corner. But like you, I'm enjoying this faux-spring and trying not to think about it being a harbinger of another hot, brutal summer. Man, I sound like a whiner...Okay, really, I am enjoying it!
ReplyDeleteI remember Super Bowl last year and we were iced in under a blank of snow in Texas -- go figure! The Packer fans visiting loved it, but I'm sure Jerry Jones was not too happy. So glad we are not repeating that this year. 70 degrees is my kind of winter! My daffodils have buds but none open yet. Any day now :-) Take 'er easy on the Scotch! You don't want to be tipsy when you're tiptoeing through the tulips :-)
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the color. Enjoy the Scotch. Enjoy the game.
ReplyDeleteHolley - I'm definitely ready too, but I wouldn't mind some more winter weather first. Here that basically means rain and snow in the mountains. I'm worried if we don't get it we'll have a bad drought this summer.
ReplyDeleteCasa - I like the way you think. My daffodils were kind of an after thought. They were a gift from someone once and instead of throwing them out I took them out of the pot and plopped them in the ground and forgot they were there. I had some Creeping Jenny planted over them for a few years and they would push right through too.
Cat - I really hope you guys don't have to go through the same kind of summer you went through last year. That would be too much to bear for any gardener. Not to mention how difficult it must be on the farmers in your area.
Toni - Who would have thought the cold would be the weather making headlines in Dallas last year??? I did go easy on the Scotch this year . . . but only because I need to work in the morning.
Kevin - Thanks! I am enjoying it all!