It seems we only got about 2 months of winter this year… January and February were cold and snowy, just like they should be, but now it’s warm again. It’s been above freezing for over a week, and most of the snow has turned to slush and ice again. This is just wrong. :(
Took this a few weeks ago, on one of the few nice days this winter.
I know I talk about the weather a lot, but I’m afraid you’ll have to live with it. Thing is, the weather isn’t just smalltalk to me, it’s actually really important.
First thing in the morning, after putting on my glasses, I look out the window to check what mother nature is serving today. Partially because the climate dictates what clothes I can wear, which roads will be safe or unsafe to drive, and which paths in the forest will be walkable, but also because it’s important to me to feel connected to nature and the changing of the seasons.
My mum is an urban soul who dream about life in a big city, but my father and my grandparents are/were outdoorsy people who made sure I was taught to love and respect nature.
One of my earliest memories of life is of me in a small sledge that my dad, on skis, is pulling behind him through a wintry landscape. As a child, every weekend and every holiday they took me cross-country skiing, fishing, berrypicking, or just simply hiking. We would go out into the forest just to “check up on it” as my grandfather would put it.
Basically, to me, keeping tabs on the state of nature is just as important as reading the newspapers. And if the seasons are off beat it creates a sense of unbalance, and I don’t like it.
*pause*
I just realised I sound like such a hippie.
Wow.
I do get mocked about it sometimes. Apparently caring about nature isn’t just a hippie thing, it’s also an “old people” thing. Mum says as long as I don’t start a weather journal and begin writing down the daily temperatures like dad, it’s ok. I’ve promised not to do that until I’m at least 60. :P
Does anyone else care a lot about the weather and the seasons? Or is it just smalltalk to you?
There is nothing wrong with being passionate about the outdoors, weather and nature! I do the same thing when I wake up by looking outside! With so much technology these days, it’s important to stay in tune with nature and the “real” life. You rock.
I’m not as passionate about the weather as you but being a Brit, talking about the weather is ingrained into your psyche. If you stat talking to a random person the first topic will be weather!
I love the snow! We don’t get enough of it in the UK!
Love the photo of you and your dad! You looked so snug! Like your dad, my Taid used to keep a weather journal. I didn’t know about it until after he died – I found all his diaries and almost everyday he would write what the weather was doing.
The first thing I do when I get out of bed is look out the window, too. Weather is important to me as well because it effects (affects? I never know) what I will be doing and my mood as well. You don’t sound like a hippie- you sound like a beautiful soul who understands she has no control over the wild thing we call “mother nature” who has learned a respect and appreciation for it.
That’s great that your father and grandparents loved nature so much :) I think it’d be a lot of fun to do activities like that every weekend.
The weather is important to me too! I actually open the door and walk out into my backyard in the morning to figure out what to wear. It varies so much where we live, so we have to check it constantly. It might be hot one day and cold the very next. It’s not a hippie thing to me! :)
I think it is really lovely that you do care about the weather so much. It’s good to take that in both as appreciation for the world and because it is logical (like you mentioned with traveling and clothes). It is a shame you didn’t get a lot of perfect winter weather though. :(
I grew up a nature girl too (mostly thanks to my father), and to this I love being outside, and I love nature so keeping an eye on the weather and thinking about it- as well as consequences of climate/weather shifts is really important to me too.
Now that I’ve moved to Oregon, I am having a harder time determining what is normal and what isn’t, because I am not yet familiar with the weather pattern here. Thankfully my husband is just as interested in it as I am and explains every unusual phenomenon to me even before I ask him!
Growing up in Texas for the majority of my childhood, the only times when the weather mattered was during the hurricane season. To be fair, I lived fairly close to my school, so there was no need to worry about layering and driving safety. It all changed once college began, where the winter’s harshness compared to the Siberian winter whereas anything warmer called for sandals and shorts.
So yea, in that regard, I had to check the temperature and the weather pattern before heading out. I never went as far as jotting down the weather pattern [more power to your dad, by the way!]. However, when we have unseasonal incidents such as the blizzard we had last May, I get snap a photo of it and show it to my friends back in Texas. :P