This is what I missed so terribly living down South; seasons. There is just something about watching summer turn into fall and waking up with the crisp morning air and the changing colors of the leaves against deep blue skies which then give way to clouds, dark days, rain, sleet, and snow.
Sure, it occasionally snows in Austin, but it always gives way to 70 degrees and melted snow by noon (OK, except that one time where it snowed all day, but it was still 70 the next day). I missed the socked in, power outage, cuddle up in a sweater with a cup of hot Market Spiced tea and a good book kind of snow. The kind that lends itself to giant snowman making:
And buries the dormant veggie garden and it's ever watchful owl in snow:
As well as the garden squirrel that watches over my potted plants:
The kind that turns a green forest white:
And makes a succulent pot look like a snow cone for several days:
And turns skeletal remains of annual flowers into frozen lollipops:
The kind that drives the year round residents of Puget Sound, the Anna's hummingbird, to make trips to the feeder every couple minutes to keep up energy:
Closer:
This is the kind of winter I have missed for so long, where even in the winter the region is blanketed in green, occasionally concealed by white.
The winter solstice is just around the corner and the dark,stormy months of winter will begin slowly marching towards the rainy days of spring. But, there are a few more months of winter yet to go and I plan to enjoy every minute of it. I feel so privileged to have had the opportunity to move back home to the Pacific Northwest.
