Tis the Season

Tis the season--for turtlenecks! I've been working on laundry today; and I've washed, dried, folded, and put away the following clothing items of mine: a white turtleneck, another white turtleneck, a chocolate brown turtleneck, a navy blue turtleneck, a dark green turtleneck, and a black turtleneck. I think the only turtleneck I didn't wear this week was my light green one; I'll probably wear it soon. Oh, and guess what I'm wearing as I write this? A turtleneck!

It was 7 degrees this morning here at our house--and that's 7 degrees Fahrenheit (-13.9 degrees for you Celsius folks). Tonight it is once again 7 degrees, and I'm sure it will get lower than that during the night. I can hardly wait to fly to California next week--not just for the weather, of course--but I am looking forward to higher temps!!!

It never ceases to amaze me how our bodies adapt to our climate, wherever we may be. Whatever is cold for our particular climate seems cold to us, and the same thing is true with heat...but when we go to a different climate, it all changes. I remember when I was a senior in college and I flew to San Diego to visit Jeff (to whom I was engaged at the time). It was December 1996. I was enjoying wearing summer dresses and going barefoot as I sat in the porch swing on Jeff's sister's patio, but all the California folks thought I was crazy. I had come from the cold and snow of my college in Pennsylvania though so the weather seemed really warm to me!

It also amazes me that the weather can change so much so that during part of the year, we are so hot that we wear as few clothes as possible and still sweat like crazy, but during another part of the year--the same year in the same place--we are so cold that we bundle up as much as we can and still feel cold. I was looking at pictures today from a HOT July Sunday afternoon volleyball game and thinking, "I can't believe we were really that hot; I remember feeling on that day like I would simply melt like a pat of butter in a hot skillet!" And now here I huddle in my turtlenecks, shoving as much wood into our woodstove as will possibly fit in an effort to stay warm. What a contrast!

This doesn't just happen in Virginia. When we lived in Tel Aviv which has a more temperate climate than here, the same thing was true. I have vivid memories of dressing Josiah in a onesie, than a sleeper, than a sleeping sack before putting him to bed in the winter--and I still worried that he might be cold, and sometimes even put blankets on top of him (after he was old enough to be safe with blankets). But during the summer, he would wear just a diaper to bed and would still be hot!

Well, enough reflections on the weather. This cold snap certainly makes me grateful for our warm home. I can see how people could easily die in this weather.