I’m pretty much a fair-weather friend. Dictionary.com defines Fair-weather friend as “A friend who supports others only when it is easy and convenient to do so.” But I’m talking about real fair weather. That’s what I’m a friend of. I like the kind of weather where I can walk around outside and not be constantly searching for a little piece of shade to protect me from the miserable, scorching summer heat.
I complain, bitterly, about the blistering summer heat in July and August, and the fact that it pretty much continues way into September. I see the ads and articles in magazines about Back-to-School fall clothing and recipes for “cooler weather” cooking, and I roll my eyes. I’ve only just, in the past couple of weeks, moved my lighter weight clothes to the guest room closet, and brought the heavier clothes back into my regular closet. I’m glad to see them, those “winter” clothes, even though people who live in, say, Michigan, would laugh at the idea that they are all I have for “winter.” I have a heavy wool coat, and I think that’s the only woolen article of clothing that I own. And I wear that coat about three times a year, otherwise it’s lighter weight sweaters and jackets.
Friday, November 1, 2019–There is frost on the ground. Seriously. the temperature in Waco at 6:00 a.m. was between 27° and 30° depending on where in town you were.
Halloween this year was near freezing. Really. That’s a most unusual situation for us. By Tuesday, the high is predicted at 73, with a low of 57. That’s Central Texas for you. Of course, things are then supposed to drop down to 60’s and low 50’s, but that’s not down-jackets-and-wool-hats-and-gloves weather. It’s rather what we were looking forward to, back in September, when the high temperature was 91°.
I did move some of the plants on the patio close to the house and cover them with a sheet, hoping to get a little more time before a real freeze does them in. Some things in pots will be just fine. There’s a pot with sedum that I’ve had for fifteen years. It’s just finished blooming and will die back with the first freeze. It will be the first thing to start growing again in March.
There’s lots of lemon-related plants: lemon thyme and lemon mint and lemon verbena and lemon tree, which is a kind of eucalyptus. Lemon scented things are supposed to be mosquito repellents, but I’m not so sure. They are, however, pretty easy to grow and are sturdy.
Eventually I’ve learned to ask the important questions about hardiness and water needs and light. Still, though, I sometimes buy without asking for important information. Like when I bought several Turk’s Cap plants for the bed at the back of the house. They’re hardy and attract hummingbirds and butterflies. Right before I went out to plant them in the nice bed I’d gotten ready, I checked the computer to see what kind of light they needed. Sun. And lots of it. Sun. Which barely touches that bed. They’ll have to go someplace else. I’m not quite sure where.
When the clouds are full of water, it rains.
When the wind blows down a tree, it lies where it falls.
Don’t sit there watching the wind. Do your own work.
Don’t stare at the clouds. Get on with your life.
Ecclesiastes 11:3,4 (The Message)
When we were first married, David was in the Air Force and was stationed at Hickam Air Force Base, right next to Pearl Harbor, on Oahu. So, Hawaii. Right? I took lightweight, summery sorts of clothes. We went in April, and I was fine all spring and summer and into fall. There are really only two seasons there: Summer and Rainy. In September, I had to ask Mother to please send some of my long-sleeved things, because the temps were going down a little. By February, when I was student teaching, I was pretty chilly on some days. I had a raincoat and a shawl (it was the 70’s), and that was it for outerwear. One day, at school, I was clutching my shawl around me, while I was working with a kid. He looked at my shivering self and said, “Why don’t you ask your mother to buy you a coat?” Seems like not every day in the tropics is all that fair.
Now, I’m going to get on with things. And I’ll check on those plants under the sheet.