Ah, the harsh reality of winter is here. It rains where I live, not constantly, but often enough. There are many a bright sunny day as well. One thing that might distinguish MY winter from YOUR winter is, it is outright green around here. My hardy fuchsia is blossoming. My Greek oregano keeps producing. My chives are thriving. My aloe has not succumbed to the occasional freezes. The English Laurel tree is budding like crazy. The holly and the ivy are ever-present. My thyme is on my side. It's like spring with very cool temperatures. It's 40 degrees at night, 45 degrees in the day. Just like your refrigerator. When we have a rainstorm, it warms up to 50-60 degrees because of the marine influences. Anything but bleak. Most of my life I shoveled snow all winter. When it snows here, there is no accumulation because the rain soon follows and melts everything. It hails, but the stones are tinier than a petite pea and barely make a "ping" on the roof. I once froze a hailstone as big as a grapefruit to show the insurance adjuster in case he doubted that I had roof damage. That was in Nebraska, the capitol of severe weather. Winters on the Oregon coast are not something you suffer through. Yes, it rains, which for me offers opportunity for introspection. When the sun breaks, all the neighbors go outdoors and we all get reacquainted. I don't even own a snow shovel or an ice scraper. I own wild bird food, because the birdies are abundant all winter, but that's another story. The sunsets are gorgeous, very pastel. The nutria poop on the docks. The steelhead run in January and February (ocean-going trout). It's just not bad at all. I better wind this up, because I bet you have to go heave a bunch of the white stuff and suffer a little frostbite. I'm sorry :) 
1 comment:
Karen, You are a very positive person and see the dreary days of the Oregon Coast thru rose colored glasses, which is a great attitude for life. We here in Southern Ill. are just recovering from a snow and ice storm that hit Ky. and Mo. with terrible fury. Some folks are just getting their electric back on after 2 weeks and both states have been declared disaster areas as well as 7 counties in So. Ill. We are so thankful we were just on the outside edge of all this. So we are now enjoying temp's in the 70's and I finally took our outside Christmas lights down yesterday wearing only a tee shirt and sweat pants. I also noticed my daffodills and iris sticking their heads above the surface of the ground. Spring is getting close and I love Spring.
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