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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

SNOW VS SUN

I have spent the last few days hallucinating that I am somewhere around palm trees, or at least somewhere toasty and warm.  


Snow bunnies forgive me: when you were born around palm trees, their siren song is loudest this time of year.


This recent spate of raw and icy weather has not helped matters much, and hard as I try to focus on winter's beauty, the pull of the sun only becomes louder.


My poor friends endure my tirades about the cold, or the musings about trudging on icy sidewalks from the municipal lot where I have to park my car so the streets can be cleared, the gazillion layers that makes us resemble wooly mammoths, and the cold, ah, the relentless frigid air.


That said, some of those friends, who live in diametrically opposed places, have given me perspective. 


Denise lives in Grand Cayman, a tiny albeit gorgeous gem of an island where I spent a portion of my life. Two days ago I sent her a message yammering about warm breezes and fruity, umbrella festooned drinks and she shot back, "I'm working and I wish it was cooler." Apparently the AC in her building was on the fritz, something they rarely mention in tropical travel brochures. 


Then there is Richard, who a) is insane (aka a musician), b) lives in Alaska with his wife and kids and c) did I say he was insane? Richard hails from Woonsocket, so he's familiar with RI winters and throwing the kids out the window a cookie. He wrote, "A bit brisk here in Juneau. Winds gusting to 88 mph. Temperature 20 degrees, but wind chill well below 0 degrees. Anywhere else this would be severe weather. Just another day here." 


Meanwhile Hugh, another Rhode Islander musician (draw your own conclusions) who now lives in the land down under, is enjoying summertime and some well deserved vacation. Hugh will be coping with Old Man Winter when those of us in the U.S. are throwing shrimp on the Fourth of July barbecue. 


It's all relative, I suppose, and in this day of lightning communications via the internet, we get to share each other's lives and doings, enjoying personal weather reports as seen via the eyes of a friend.  What is invigorating cold to some is nasty to others, ditto for the humid warmth in which those palm trees thrive.


This writer, however, will trade a boatload of snow for a day of heat, cheap. Denise, I'll even deliver.


Amen, and pass the mustard. 

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