Capricious Weather We Are Having

In the almost 73 years I have spent in Minnesota, there has been lots of weather to marvel. So hot sometimes the brain fries, tempers flare, and murders happen. So cold one cannot even contemplate being angry or harming another because the body is too busy putting all its effort into shivering to generate heat. Of course there are all the in-betweens the extremes that can be pleasant and memorable.

Spring:

As a child I only thought of spring as the nearing end of another school year. I liked the still frosty mornings and walking on ice that crackled sharply in the morning silence. I liked the sun on my back but cool in the air. I liked wearing lighter clothes. I hated the wasps. Schools had windows that opened, no A/C, and no screens. The wasps were everywhere! I liked splashing in snow-melt puddles. I liked the buds. I didn't care about the lengthening days and since we didn't use DST much no one was messing with my body clock twice a year so as the days lengthened, I got used to it. I was terrified of the snakes, frogs, and other slimy creatures that came out to enjoy the warming sun. June Bugs! Oh, how I hated the June Bugs. Still do. Can't abide them (picture a large uncontrolled shiver here). My gardening was inhibited by June Bugs. Since most plants can't be put in until June, it was hard to garden and get all done BEFORE the June Bugs emerged. Nasty things. To end on a pleasant thought, lilacs, lily of the valley, tulips, daffodils, peony blossoms, and wood violets.

Summer:

School was out and that was all that mattered. I was usually not a stay-a-bed as our family had work and things to get done. Mom liked being up early to sit quietly after everyone left for the day with the morning paper crossword puzzle, me, and watching the sun rise over the neighbor's tall cottonwood. She also liked getting things done before the day got too hot. She pulled thick dark-green shades to keep the house cool. Windows were open for a cross breeze (until the breeze, too, became hot). The shades were drawn following the sun. Laundry was out on Monday mornings before the heat, and then left to soak up the scent of sun and breeze until the sun was going down and there was shade to take them in. Not being a heat and sun lover, I followed the shades around the house to stay cool. I mostly played paper dolls or read books on the front porch which faced east after the sun passed there. The only reason I cherished summer was to enjoy not having school.

Autumn:

The very first frosty morning, I would be up, digging for my flannel shirts and cord slacks. I would have them on in spite of Mom's protests. By 10:00 AM, I definitely was dressed too warm and begging to change into something cooler. Mom would be adamant. You chose it; you wear it. I loved the disappearance of bugs, frogs, snakes and other slithery things. I liked sitting with Dad burning the day's garbage at the fire pit (no it wasn't taboo in those days). I loved the drifting leaves with all the bright colors. I loved the frost on the grass. My dad took pictures once of snow falling late August or early September as it settled on the dahlias of the lady next door. I was ecstatic. Mom was not. As I look back, I think autumn and winter made her sad. Oh, yeah, the school year was in full sway. The wasps were even worse than spring because they were slow and lazy. Being lazy didn't stop them from stinging, though.

Winter:

Delightful snow. I played in it, I built snow men and women, I gave my interpretation of ice skating (all the while singing the Skater's Waltz at the top of my lungs.) I would hide in a neighbor's pine trees and watch the snow come down. I lived with the thought that winter meant things slowed down and war couldn't happen in winter. Dad and Mom let me believe that as long as I could. I remember a news report of Korean fighting in the midst of the worst snow storm that season and refused to believe it. The reporter must have been wrong! It was my peace time of year. Even after the excitement of Christmas passing, I didn't mind the cold nor the snow (sometimes way above a little girl's head). If it snowed in April, I was OK with that. I wasn't looking forward to summer as others were.

So yesterday was April 22 and we were treated to some of the wildest snow flurries ever! It would snow hard, the wind would howl, and then the sun would come out. It blew and it blustered and the topic of conversation no matter where you were was the odd weather. I thought about the August snow on the dahlias and laughed. We have had a past few months of weather in the wrong month. November 2014 was cold, unseasonably cold, and it snowed. December gave us a warm spell that caused most of the snow to disappear before Christmas. January warmed up and February was cold. What's up with this? March was warm, unseasonably warm, and April has been like a roller coaster of temperature swings.

It's Minnesota. It becomes a well planned, flexible strategy, game of what to pack away, what to keep handy in case of change, and what to leave out all year because you will need it no matter what the season. This is one of the few areas where one day you can be beaten up with ice crystals hitting you in the face and get a sunburn the next day because the temperature had climbed to Tee and cut-off weather. There is nothing to do but laugh. Gather in groups at church, the store, or local sports area or watering hole and discuss the weather. We Minnesotans are rarely without a conversation topic because there is always the weather!