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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

I Wouldn’t Say It Was Time to Put the Mittens Away, But…


The weather warms.

It’s one of the pleasures of living squarely within a four-season climate, you know.  Anticipation, that is.  Here it is February – almost March, which, really, is darn-near April.

Spring: The long-awaited and pink-hued cheek in the face of the seasons.

Summer is the dimple in that face.  But we’ll get to that another time. 

Winter, however mighty and frost-fisted, has become weary in its attempts to kill us.

Not that there isn’t still some in the strength in the Ol’ Man’s grip and that we don’t behave accordingly.  The alpaca shawl is still at the foot of the couch.  The quilt covering my bed – the one seemingly made of cotton batting and cement – remains.  The microwavable mittens I wear on my hands on the really cold days, huddled on the couch covered in flannel and cats, still become “fittens” when I put them on my feet. 

Frostbite, chilblains, and nasal ice balls all remain a possibility.

As Mary says, the whole thing’ll give ya the scourge.

The days come and go, of course; and in time, we will forget the laissez-faire cruelties of winter and the season itself will assume, like the seasons before it, its secondary job of place-marker, will become, again, the measure by which we determine where we were and when.  “Hmm.  When was the last time I had a really good margarita?  I remember I was wearing a cashmere sweater, and that I sat on Diana’s ice-scraper when I flung myself into her front seat, so I’m thinking it was late winter…”

Without the seasons, most of the Midwest wouldn’t be able to recall the last time they had a really good margarita.

Or that ice-scrapers are made of truly resilient stuff.

The temperature is predicted to rise to 36 degrees today. 

That’s almost 40.

Next thing you know, we’ll be venturing outdoors without boots, baring our naked heads to the sky, considering the brutal measure of the swimsuit and the effect of winter comfort foods.

Still.

Spring is coming. 

Anything could happen.  

37 comments:

Shelly said...

Look out your window to the south, far to the south. You see that little figure in the distance waving, kind of wildly? That's me, letting you know that this spring is going to be a beaut.

We've have it going since the end of January and you're gonna love it.

Be careful with those ice scrapers. They could do some damage-

Vicus Scurra said...

Please clarify "nasal ice balls"
Is that "nasal ice-balls" or "nasal-ice balls". I don't like the sound of either, but know which one I would choose if I had my druthers.

Pearl said...

Shelly, is that you waving?! You look nice today. :-)

Vicus, ahh. I could've been clearer. That's nasal ice-balls.

Nasal ice-balls for the win. :-)

Anonymous said...

When was it? Oh yeah...I got my boots filled with snow and lost a mitten shoving a car out of a snow bank so it must have been early spring in Ontario. Never mind....it's almost maple syrup time.

joeh said...

What with global warming, I can't remember when I last had a Margareta.

Optimistic Existentialist said...

Spring is inching ever-closer... :)

Robbie Grey said...

Living at ninety-one sixty, I know how delicious it feels after a few days to feel sun upon the face and temperatures in the mid-thirties. The forties feel like a heatwave. Fifties?

We'd be grilling. In shorts.

Dawn@Lighten Up! said...

"Nasal ice balls"?
That's it. I fold.
The husband and I have an ongoing argument re: February or March: which sucks worse?
I say February. He says March.
Who's right? Have you me? Yeah- You know I'm right.

Buttons Thoughts said...

OK "I do believe in Pearl"" I do believe in Pearl". Running through my head as I see the heavy wet snow falling down. "I do believe in Pearl" Spring is coming she said so. B

Pat Tillett said...

If I could learn how to shoot them out of my nose with force, I would happily submit to nasal ice balls.

Leenie said...

March, which, really, is darn-near April. Then, whaddya know, summer's slipped by and we have to use a credit card to clear the windows until we find the ice scraper under that moldy beach towel.

vanilla said...

Good luck with that.

Anonymous said...

I'm convinced that our founding fathers would go to a place & say, "Let's see--it's about 500 degrees here in the summer & 200 below in the winter--let's build a city HERE!!"

jenny_o said...

"Anything could happen."

Yes, yes it could.

Including winter sticking its blue tongue out at the first day of spring and flinging snow and ice at us in April. Such is the "temperate" climate dweller's fate.

Personally I'd rather that, though, than the searing heat and humidity we've been having from June to September the last dozen years. I can put more clothes and cats on, but I can't find a way to take anything off once I hit bare skin. I'm thinking kiddy pool this year.

jabblog said...

We have four seasons in the UK too - frequently all in one day!
It is lovely, though, to see the days lengthening, even if it means longer, darker days.

Joanne Noragon said...

Three weeks. My fingertips are growing raw from holding on.

Ian Lidster said...

We were blessed this year and had nothing much resembling winter. It wasn't our turn. But I am still enchanted by the arrival of genuine spring.
Now you get out and enjoy that margaritta, my dear.

Perpetua said...

Gosh, your weather is almost as warm as ours now, Pearl. We might just reach 40+ tomorrow here in Wales.

The Jules said...

When is it you start looking forward to cold, snowy days, or wintry flurries outside whilst you're not too frozen inside?

August, is it?

Susan Kane said...

It is only March, Pearl! Silly girl. We had blizzards in early April several years when I lived in Illinois and Iowa. Sorry to dash slushy ice water on your dreams.

Kana said...

At the risk of rounding myself, yesterday it was 28 degrees outside - that's almost 30! It's Breakup, that 5th season (a la Taco Bell's FourthMeal TM) of Alaska. The world keeps turning, and Anchorage becomes a nasty molting old parrot of a city. Ahhh, Nature.

Unknown said...

I admire your optimism. Looking out the window today, I don't sense the imminence of spring at all.

The Cranky said...

Yup, anything could happen...like you writing this post and making me smile.

Lin said...

We still have March...but it's coming, it is. Just notice the days getting longer and the snow melts a bit sooner now. I actually saw my snowdrops coming up out in front. The earth is whispering....I can hear it!

Gigi said...

My irises are beginning to show new growth...I'm betting that means you are right and that Spring is almost here. Dear God, I hope so! Although....we don't have to deal with nasal ice balls, thank goodness!

You know, all of a sudden I have a hankering for a margarita....

Red said...

You are really desperate for spring. Winter has a lot to offer we just have to get out in it. The more we are out the more we get used to it until it doesn't bother us anymore.
You do have a very accurate description of how many people hate winter.

klahanie said...

Hey Pearl,

Have you missed me, yes me, one of your ever growing legion of starstruck fans? Yes? No? Or, who are you, klahanie?

Now then, I'm trying to get back on track and leave one of my um 'award winning' comments on here. Okay, maybe next time. Anyway, Pearl, weather or not the whether. Like how I turned those two words around? Just wanted to let you know that in lil' ol' England, summer is this slightly warmer part of the English winter.

Penny the Jack Russell dog and modest internet superstar wants you to know, speaking of mittens, that typing with her paws is much like you, yes you, human, typing on the keyboard with mittens on.

There you go. Your eagerly anticipated wait from a comment from me is now drawing to a conclusion. What conclusion, I'm not sure! :)

Your starstruck fan,

Gary :)

chlost said...

Eveery year, we go through the same thing. I think I would appreciate the change to spring even without suffering through the interminable winter. I ask myself every winter "Why do I live here?". Then I am distracted by spring....and dang it if winter doesn't get me again. One of these years I will become a snowbird.

Linda O'Connell said...

Bring on the flip flops, I saw my first crocus today.

Elephant's Child said...

And here blessed Autumn is only a heart beat away. And the garden porn catalogues are coming in thick and fast luring me into buying more bulbs to plant for OUR spring. The world is moving too fast...

HermanTurnip said...

Being a southern California kid, I was never exposed to winter. That changed when I joined the Air Force and was stationed in Japan. Lemme tells ya, I didn't think snow drifts could get that big without some sort of internal steel structure supporting it.

But I found that you can get used to winter after a couple of harsh seasons. That last winter I was walking around outside the dorms in shorts and a t-shirt while snow whipped around me.

But given the same opportunity today, I'd huddle inside and under the covers with the wife and cat. NOTHING could lure me out like that again...

Connie said...

I hate sitting on ice scrapers. I love spring, however, and I'm ready for it to show up any time now. It's coming--I can feel it in my bones. :)

sage said...

Spring is coming, eh? I got to get back on my winter sailboat projects...

Rose L said...

Winter does have a way of bloating us up.

raydenzel1 said...

My winters now a days consist of complaining "I know I am cold but no one will believe me."

River said...

Nasal ice-balls?
Oh dear God, I don't EVER want to be that cold.

the walking man said...

What are these strange things, ice scrapers, hats, gloves cement comforters etc.? Granted you're few hundred miles north and west of us here but the great blizzard of '13 peed on us more than anything else.