A Blogging We Will Go

I think blogging is a bit like a very public journal. I write my thoughts, post things I've written, and tell you all about my day. (as if you care!)

Did I ever tell you about what it was like to move from sunny Southern California to "interesting" Joplin, MO? I lived in Southern California all my life. Most of it in the San Diego area, but was born and raised in Los Angeles. I did live for one year in Hawaii. As you can see, I really knew nothing about weather, changes in weather, nasty weather, storms, thunder, lightening, snow, ice, wind (really big wind), trees with zillions of leaves with which one must deal. (My method is to just ignore them and wait for the snow to cover them up).
An old joke is if you don't like the weather, just wait 15 minutes and it will change. May be an old joke, but it is, none-the-less, very true. I've seen it go from sunny and fairly warm in the morning to an ice storm in the evening. Crazy stuff.
I remember the first time I actually saw snow fall from the sky. Big, white, fluffy bits of cotton drifting slowly, if irratically, to the ground. Amazing. I ran to the window in my office, rubbed the pane to clear space and watched it for the longest time. I ran outside just to see what it felt like. It didn't feel like much actually. More like rain drops that were colder than usual. It melted when it hit me. My staff all thought I was nuts, but it was all new to me.
I bought my house in January and everything was just sticks. Brown, gnarley, sticks poking out of the ground. I thought everything was dead and that I would have to re-plant everything in the Spring. In California when there are no leaves and just brown, dead-looking sticks, well, you can be sure the plant has gone to flora heaven. Not in the midwest. Spring came and everything began to sprout, and bud, and bloom and green up. It was the most incredible transformation. Every day something new was growing. I was mesmerized.
The same thing happened in the Fall. The trees actually changed to the most brilliant colors! Just like pictures I'd seen of New England. Red, orange, yellow, gold, brown all mixed together and forming giant vistas of beauty everywhere I looked.
Of course, that is what brings on the leaf problem. They begin to all turn brown and commit suicide by falling to the ground. And there they lie, just waiting for someone to take pity on them and put them out of their misery. (Which I do by waiting for snow, remember?)
So, the final moral to my story? Move. Go someplace new. Experience something different!