End-of-Summer Realization
It only just occurred to me this weekend that summer is not going to last forever, and that realization made me sad. That is so not like me. I've bitched and moaned about the misery that is summer for years, trying to will the season to pass more quickly and hoping desperately to see a colored leaf on a tree so that I can say I got to enjoy autumn before winter rolled around.
This brings us to realization number two. I don't think we're in Florida anymore, Toto. Not that I wasn't fully aware of the fact that Minneapolis is not in Florida when I moved here. My mad geography skillz are perhaps not all that they could be, but they're not that bad. It's just that here there are seasons. Four of them!
I've been through a full year in Minnesota, so I have experienced the very un-Florida-like autumn, when I really will see a colored leaf on a tree, and the even more un-Florida-like winter and oh dear god, the glorious snow. But this is the first summer after my first winter here, and the ending of this summer is not at all the same as the ending of my first summer, when I had not yet experienced Minnesota winter.
Now I know what's coming. I know that it will be very, very cold for what will seem like a very, very long time. I know that I will not want to spend much time outside just for the sake of spending time outside. So, strangely for me, I find that I very much want to spend time outside now, while it's still so beautiful. I want to actually expose my skin to the rays of the evil daystar. I want to walk in the grass, even. But only properly shod, because the idea of going outside with naked feet is completely and thoroughly horrifying to me.
Yesterday morning when I went outside I was so thrilled with the weather that I decided to spend my afternoon at the lake rather than in my gloriously air conditioned apartment. So I did. I packed a sheet, a little pillow, a book, my sunscreen, and my iPod into a bag and set off for the grocery store where I picked up some garlic and chive hummus, pita bread, and baby carrots, and from there went on to my favorite spot by the lake. And then I lay on my sheet and read my book. It was fabulous. I rolled over occasionally so as to avoid bed sores, and I ate some carrots and a pita with tons of garlicky hummus. I watched puffy clouds in the sky and boats in the water. I read a murder mystery with knitting. I watched people going by. It was the most unproductive afternoon ever, and it was perfect. I need more just like it before it's too cold to just lie about outside and enjoy the weather.This is the part where I ask you not to try to ruin my winter for me. Yes, I know this is not Florida. Yes, I know it can get much colder here than it did last year. Yes, I know that I might well die between the back door of my building and the dumpster due to the Xtreem cold. You will not be the first person to tell me all about how much I don't understand what cold really is, so please don't bother. There were a few people last year who just would not let it go, and I couldn't decide whether they were trying to be clever or trying to ruin my enjoyment of the winter. Either way, it didn't work. So please, my little FriendBots, don't be That Person. Not that I imagine any of you are, of course, but you know. Just in case.Sweet shrieking Jesus, that makes me sound so cranky. Really, I'm not. I am in a splendiferous mood today, and now it is lunch time and as a result my mood is even more fabulous because really, grumbly tummy is no fun and grilled chicken is. So yay for that.
Also fantabulous this weekend: beers with The fontosaurus and his friends, snuggling with Linus, shopping, and a lunch that consisted of salad and beer in which the bad-for-me-ness of the beer was canceled out by the good-for-me-ness of the salad.
This brings us to realization number two. I don't think we're in Florida anymore, Toto. Not that I wasn't fully aware of the fact that Minneapolis is not in Florida when I moved here. My mad geography skillz are perhaps not all that they could be, but they're not that bad. It's just that here there are seasons. Four of them!
I've been through a full year in Minnesota, so I have experienced the very un-Florida-like autumn, when I really will see a colored leaf on a tree, and the even more un-Florida-like winter and oh dear god, the glorious snow. But this is the first summer after my first winter here, and the ending of this summer is not at all the same as the ending of my first summer, when I had not yet experienced Minnesota winter.
Now I know what's coming. I know that it will be very, very cold for what will seem like a very, very long time. I know that I will not want to spend much time outside just for the sake of spending time outside. So, strangely for me, I find that I very much want to spend time outside now, while it's still so beautiful. I want to actually expose my skin to the rays of the evil daystar. I want to walk in the grass, even. But only properly shod, because the idea of going outside with naked feet is completely and thoroughly horrifying to me.
Yesterday morning when I went outside I was so thrilled with the weather that I decided to spend my afternoon at the lake rather than in my gloriously air conditioned apartment. So I did. I packed a sheet, a little pillow, a book, my sunscreen, and my iPod into a bag and set off for the grocery store where I picked up some garlic and chive hummus, pita bread, and baby carrots, and from there went on to my favorite spot by the lake. And then I lay on my sheet and read my book. It was fabulous. I rolled over occasionally so as to avoid bed sores, and I ate some carrots and a pita with tons of garlicky hummus. I watched puffy clouds in the sky and boats in the water. I read a murder mystery with knitting. I watched people going by. It was the most unproductive afternoon ever, and it was perfect. I need more just like it before it's too cold to just lie about outside and enjoy the weather.This is the part where I ask you not to try to ruin my winter for me. Yes, I know this is not Florida. Yes, I know it can get much colder here than it did last year. Yes, I know that I might well die between the back door of my building and the dumpster due to the Xtreem cold. You will not be the first person to tell me all about how much I don't understand what cold really is, so please don't bother. There were a few people last year who just would not let it go, and I couldn't decide whether they were trying to be clever or trying to ruin my enjoyment of the winter. Either way, it didn't work. So please, my little FriendBots, don't be That Person. Not that I imagine any of you are, of course, but you know. Just in case.Sweet shrieking Jesus, that makes me sound so cranky. Really, I'm not. I am in a splendiferous mood today, and now it is lunch time and as a result my mood is even more fabulous because really, grumbly tummy is no fun and grilled chicken is. So yay for that.
Also fantabulous this weekend: beers with The fontosaurus and his friends, snuggling with Linus, shopping, and a lunch that consisted of salad and beer in which the bad-for-me-ness of the beer was canceled out by the good-for-me-ness of the salad.