I have many friends who live here in North Idaho who are not a fan of the cold. Since we moved here from ever-sunny Southern California I have been questioned as to why in the world we would leave the land of infinite sunshine for the place of near-infinite winter. Maybe it's ADD talking, but I must admit that all that sunshine gets a little boring, or at least I thought so. Doesn't the saying go, "Variety is the spice of life?"
People like to joke that we have two seasons here: winter and almost winter. I certainly find that I wear a coat or jacket about 80% of the year. I spend six months of the year in long johns. I don't like being cold, but I do enjoy the cold. I love my colorful variety of colored coats, gloves and scarves, tromping through the snow in my comfy Sorels and having every excuse to snuggle up by a cozy fire with a good book. And I just love to ski... when I can afford it.
As much as I enjoy the winter, I equally enjoy the summers. I never understood the itch to grow something until I lived somewhere where there is actually growing season. Come May I can't wait to get plants in the ground and to watch them flourish. Unfortunately my plants are usually dead by the 4th of July, but still the idea is there (I was never diagnosed with ADD, but I wonder). Then there's the camping, hiking, boating and all the great stuff you can only do in the summer. There is something to be said about living in a place that has actual seasons.
That said, I really, really don't like this time of year. I like to call it The Season of Mush: mud, slush, rain, clouds, snow... you name it. It's like the weather has ADD instead of me. Some days it's 45 degrees and others its 23. It rains, sleets and snows all in the matter of 10 minutes. It's not really winter anymore, but it certainly isn't spring either. I start to forget the color of my truck because of the many layers of grime covering it. And since I live on a dirt road -- mud right now -- it's pointless to wash it because it'll just get dirty again on my trip home. If I were to be blessed with the money to visit a tropical climate, now would be the ideal time for me. Nothing is growing, all the leafless plants are squashed because of the snow that has covered them for months and the world just looks blah. I'm easy to spot this time of year as my clothing becomes more vibrant to battle the grayness that surrounds me.
Bring on the Spring!
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