Archive for June 9th, 2005
Thursday, June 9th, 2005Unexpected Weather
For the second day in a row, I woke up to rain pattering on the roof and fog sifting through the pine trees outside my window. I had to rub the sleep from my eyes and take a minute to remember that I was not living in New England any longer.
I believe that New Englanders coined the saying: If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute. Springtime in New Hampshire, or Maine, or Rhode Island is often characterized by unpredictable weather. It may be eighty degrees and sunny in the morning, only to hail later in the day. I remember many Easters where we had to brave several inches of snow in our patent leathers to make it to church services.
But here in sunny California we expect, well, sunshine. Typical years find the rains gone by mid-May. June is usually a month of increasingly warm days (bordering on hot) with perfect blue skies and not a cloud to be seen. The monotony of unblemished days lulls us into the belief that rain can only fall between October and May; the rest of the months are reserved to last minute picnics, trips to the beach, and long lazy days reading in the hammock.
I climbed from bed this morning and opened the French doors to put the dogs out for their morning potty break. They peeked out into the flat grayness of the backyard, then looked at me as if to say: What is this?
I shrugged “I have no idea. Perhaps we’re not in California anymore.”