And I can't even complain about it, because I spent 2 1/2 weeks in Florida, while many of my friends have been here all winter, shaking and shoveling and shivering. B never took a break from the cold; she's been here the entire time. Her brother lives in Massachusetts, and he's gotten it even worse. There's my daughter in Buffalo. Brrrffalo.
I see the students down at the college, standing out in the cold, waiting for the bus, huddled under their coats and hats and scarves. They don't complain. Of all the people I know at the college, only one person other than me was able to get away -- she went to Miami with her boyfriend for one week. And I had 2 1/2 weeks. So I can't complain. But those weeks seem so long ago.I no longer have any resistance to the cold. It seems that every week I need to put on another layer before I can feel comfortable around the house. B and I sat watching TV last night. I had a blanket around my shoulders; B had one draped over her knees. Like a couple of old people.
It's mid-February. It was 14 degrees this morning. I keep looking on the five-day forecast to see if it will start to get warmer. Then the ten-day forecast. So far, no sign of it.
My friend Mike had the foresight to buy a condominium in Florida at the bottom of the real-estate market a few years ago. Now he goes down there for three months. So he's warm and happy. And I'm green with envy. But nothing is green around here. Only white. I am icy with envy. Someone else I know left for Guatemala. I don't know what he's doing there, but I know he's not shoveling snow.
And then I get this lovely email from my sister who lives in Phoenix: "Tom: Are you getting all of this snow that we hear about over in our 78 degree weather? (Ha!)"
I give a forced laugh. I know she means well, means to be funny. But I only think to myself, I will write her in July, asking about the baking, searing, enervating 100+ degree heat.
But that gives me cold comfort. And I wonder: Is hell hot, or cold?
26 comments:
Today is a beautiful clear day in Portland, cold but beautiful. Glad you made it home safely.
My husband and I have been discussing the aging process and how we "feel" the cold and heat differently than when we were younger. Last year, we ordered warmer coats from LLBean, guaranteed to keep us warm to -30 degrees. We laughed because style, color, and price were irrelevant. Life changes. Guess we need to be ready to continue to change with it. Tom, it's time to pay your sis in Arizona a visit...
I am living in Buffalo, going on 27 years. Temperature read -6 this morning,with no wind chill and bright sunshine.
Tom,
Hello from Anna Maria Island.
Once upon a time, I remember loving cold weather! Ha! No more! I flat can't tolerate the cold like I once did. Not only do I want a blanket around my shoulders, I want it to be an electric blanket set on Toast.
I find myself less tolerant of the cold every year. And this year is really, really cold. Greetings from the Jersey shore! We got 4 inches of snow last night, but the real issue is the bitter cold. Setting records.
After several years of planning, my husband and I have successfully achieved our goal of spending three months in Florida this year. And from what I can hear, just in time! Now, we're working on 4 months, and hopefully forever and ever.
We're done with the northeast. You can keep it. That and the so-called global warming.
Cindi
Ouch...on second half of a 16 day trip to Florida. If it gives you any comfort, it is cool weather here with sweaters and long pants. Not even warm enough to beach it.
Washington state has no snow for the ski season(s) and will have no snow melt for the agriculture abundant in our state..I live near the border of Oregon, tomorrow the new governor will be sworn in, the former governor John A. Kitzhaber, M.D. is out he gave it all away for a young chippie he lives openly with her and calls her first lady, I got a word for her and it is NOT FIRST LADY, both under FBI investigation for improper doings while he was Governerator!!!!!! She got the money and now he will get the SHAFT, dobt he will go to prison but many are sure he brokered a deal, really he will be 69 soon she will be 48 in August both married several times he twice, she 3 times, come on she never reported thousands of dollars she got for consultancy work and married a man for a green card she got $5,000 while in college! The former governor should have know something was up he is after all 68 soon and lived with her for over 12 years..THERE IS A SAYING NO FOOL LIKE AN OLD FOOL WELL IT SEEMS RIGHT FOR HIM..I guess getting old and alone has it's dangers. ciao!
THE LAST FEW DAYS HE WAS GOVERNOR IN OREGON JOHN A. KITZHABER MD HE ACTED LIKE HE WAS ON THE SOON TO BE RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA HE VOTED FOR HE...HE GOT WEIRDER AND WEIRDER AS THE DAYS LAGGED ON FINALLY HE RESIGNED..He is 68 on March 5, 2015 a well respected emergency room physician, too bad he couldn't rise above the bullshit and take care of his private life in a up onboard way..she ran him like a lawnmower, now have high priced laywers and will use up the money she got illegally to defend against going to jail, he won't get off easy either..>The governor in the south and his wife will do hard time for accepting millions from outside their state, it is illegal they got caught the governor will spend if not already in jail many years contemplating his Where is Walso moment, then his soon to be ex-wife will join the same prison after he is released...Too bad politicians think they are above the law and their gal pals too..He was a honorable fellow and saved two men who had mi in two separate speaking engagments where he was a guest speaker and an outstanding e/r doctor, he should have stayed wit Medicine cause politics did him in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, how I wish I was on AMI right now! I'll have to do a little research to see if it's really true that we get less tolerant of the cold as we get older ... or if that's an old wives' tale. I actually read something recently about how cold weather makes you live longer. Don't know if I believe it; but if it's true I'll live to be 100!
Hawaii where I live is pretty nice right now in mid-February.
I also feel the cold more in my seventies. When I lived in Colorado, the dry cold there was easier to tolerate than the temperature here in the PNW at 20 degrees warmer. And in Istanbul this week, the cold and rain was downright intolerable. But I managed anyway. If you do find out if old people tolerate the cold less well, please write about it. I'm curious. :-)
We went to Florida too, but we've been sicker than dogs since we got back.
I lived in Florida for three years. My youngest son was born at MacDill AFB in Tampa. Storms are much more worrisome than the heat. I went through the hot summer pregnant and without A/C. I was younger then.
I think about FL from time to time. VA is still the place for me. We have mostly mild winters, this one is a bit odd. I really feel for friends further north.
So sorry to hear the cold is getting to you Tom. Like your sister I live in the desert southwest and we have the opposite season so you're right. Ultimately there is always a downside. Of course my husband and I both decided years ago that given the choice, hot was better than cold so we tolerate the summers here (by getting away as much as we can) and then luxuriate in our winters. Yeah, it's been pretty darn perfect here for the last three weeks and I am loving it. Stay warm!
"I am icy with envy" is a tremendous sentence, Tom. In five words you express the opinion of so many people trapped under so many feet of snow.
Like you sister and Kathy I am enjoying our version of winter in Phoenix. Come summer, though, I am out of here and up to Portland.
As I read about the cold in the northwest, I am so happy to make Southern California my home. I know we miss the lovely changing of the seasons and we are facing a major drought, but I'm a real baby when it comes to being cold. I'm so happy my parents made the choice to settle here before I was born. I too visited Florida a few weeks ago. Very nice, but I'll take California any day.
Since retiring, the winter is not so bothersome as long as the furnace is running and the water lines haven't frozen! I have a wood-burning stove in use that provides such a warmer heat than central heating. My neighbor says that the wood warms you twice - once when you split it and again when you burn it. And you've probably heard the saying - the difference between a good and bad winter day is the right clothes. And then there's my friend who says - snow means slow - providing an opportunity to do different things after the hectic pace of summer. Having lived in NE Alberta all my life, I also know the frustration of one more snow fall and another day of -20-30C (or colder). That "winter wonderland" loses its appeal. Nothing looks more delicious than spring at this time of year.
The new governor is in in the state of Oregon, first openly bi-sexual governor in USA..She is married to a nice fellow and has raised two lovely young adult stepchildren..No baloney with this governor..The former Governor Kitzhaber's gal pal likes to make cozy with older gentlemen and let them lend her tons of money..wow what a catch..I say watch how people treat you as you get older cause a lot of the younger gals and guys have eyes on your money and power..Both under FBI indictment(s)..The governor in Virginia is in jail for accepting so much money and gifts, his wife will be sentenced this Friday, some leadership people vote into office, the love of money is hard to resist with the power that comes from being a governor, senator and etc..It is nice out here still, but we will be burning in hell come this summer with no SNOPACK, I prayed it snowed like it is doing in Massachusetts for days on end it would save our ski industries and many who work for it's industry and our crops will suffer too..I don't mind a little snow now and then but no snow, no rain, it is crazy warm here, come this summer it will be a season in living hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We are having an early spring here in Northern California. Mid sixties today. But the sacramento valley deals with heavy fog this time of year and I would hate that. The sierra foothills are bone the fog and below the snow so nice.
BTW, for readers info, global warming doesn't mean it's suppose to get warmer, it means the levels of the ocean are rising and therefore the ocean patterns change and bring fiercer storms. The movie "day after tomorrow " explains it very well.
Best to you in the snow.
Mona McG--You remind of a song that Margaret Whiting recorded, All I Want is All There Is which included the lines, "All I want is all there is and then some. Ice cream soda topped with sauerkraut. A man who keeps his shapely form, chopping wood to keep me warm, all I want is all there is and then some."
Cop Car
Oops! Should be, "A man who keeps his MANLY form...."
CC
We're having a heat wave in SW Michigan. Had a high temp of 17 degrees yesterday. What a relief it wasn't!
This is one of your best posts ever! You are so right that even getting away for 2 weeks means that you are in the "I can't complain" camp. Thanks for the smiles, from someone who is in the same situation!
Very professional and gentle. The staff is very accommodating and the office is very stunning and clean .
Best Child Care Dentist In Chennai
Post a Comment