I’m only happy when it rains
Posted on September 29th, 2011
Today, I woke up when the sun reflected off the windows of a nearby building, pretty much blinding me. Summer is making a last stand. Our high is an expected 82, but when I look ahead in the forecast, I see rain and temperatures in the 50s.
I can’t wait for the rain.
Rain means cashmere, hats. Most of my wardrobe is some kind of wool. It means the best holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years. It means apples, apples, apples. (I am in Honeycrisp heaven right now.)
It rarely gets really cold here (by really cold, I mean highs in the teens or 20s) and it even more rarely snows, but we may get a day or two like that. Mostly it’ll stay in the 40s or 50s; it’ll be chilly enough for layers, rainboots, and having parks to ourselves, but almost never turning the heat on. (Most of our building has radiator heat — our loft doesn’t, but everyone else stays so warm that we sometimes have to open windows on really cold days.)
Oh, by February I’ll be tired of it, sure. But until then, I have my UV lamp and my Vitamin D supplements, my wool and my new Hunter rainboots. I’m ready.

You can get rain on a cashmere hat?
Can and do! I’m less happy when I get rain on my fuzzy angora cowboy hat, though.
I too enjoy the Fall more than any other season of the year. I grew up in Michigan. I could not wait to leave that cold behind so I moved to Phoenix, Arizona. I was in Arizona for 33 years and for most of that time, I really enjoyed the sun. However, the Fall was still my favorite time of the year.
When I was 42, I had a complete hysterectomy and my entire system changed. Suddenly, the heat and the Sun became totally depressing and oppressive to me. The man I was married to at the time had lived in Portland and was anxious to get back here. I was ready to go. After I graduated from ASU (I got a really late start in education), we moved to Salem. After our divorce, I went back to Michigan for 16 months but when I was facing the second winter there, I headed back to Salem and I don’t have any plans on leaving this area ever again.
Come March, I’ll be ready for some sunshine but I’m NEVER ready for the heat. It still depresses me endlessly. Sigh.
For now, I plan to enjoy the turning of the leaves and the cloudy, cloudy days. I may have to go collect some beautiful leaves for collages. (Sigh of happiness and contentment.)
AAL, much as I love your rain boots, and much as I love Wellies in general, rain makes me sad. And winter is even sadder. Feels like my life is ending, actually. And no–no one has ever called me dramatic or anything
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