Mary

I road my bike to work today for the first time this year.  I don't know what the temperature was at the time (except that I got too hot in my down jacket and neoprene mask), but it's like 35 degrees now, and supposed to get up to 41 later today.  Highs in the 40s tomorrow too.  We could go camping!  Except that we have plans for tomorrow night. 

Last Monday was Groundhogs Day/Candlemas/Imbolc.  It seemed like everyone was talking about it.  Probably many of them were talking about it since it was discussed on The Writers' Almanac.  I gave the radio a rasberry when they announced that it was sunny and therefore we'd have another 6 weeks of Winter.  Then I thought better of it and decided that only another 6 weeks of Winter sounded like fantastic news.  Later, my mom forwarded an email to me from my aunt in which she talked about their beautiful sunny Groundhogs Day in Bandon OR and how it felt like it was getting to be Spring, but it's actually just the cross quarter.  She observed that if the Groundhog see his shadow on February 2nd, then there will indeed be another 6 weeks of Winter, but this doesn't really have anything to do with the weather... there will be 6 more weeks of Winter because Winter is only half over and it will be another 6 weeks to the Spring Equinox.  She speculates that perhaps this is meant to keep us from getting our hopes up on beautiful sunny Winter's day.  Fair enough.  Though I'd put it this way: there are only 6 more weeks of Winter ahead.  I think I need to get my hopes up.  How else is one supposed to make it through the Winter? 

Yesterday it snowed here. I didn't write about it though because I was lazy. Then today, 2 of my LJ friends who are several states East of here complain about snow.

I think either the states are smaller here than I'm used to, or the weather patterns are bigger. I also think I am much closer to the East Coast than I was when I lived in California and Oregon.