Weather

So the last two days Ive posted notes about the weather on my other site. Yesterday was beyond awesome and a day you wish you could bookmark to take out when you want a glorious day. Today its pouring again and its been really pouring most days since I got home from my trip to CA for my grandchild's HS graduation. And the reason its bothering me is because I went to check out the Farmers Market here.

It started last weekend but I was away. And today its pouring. I didn't know what to expect. Oregonians are tough people and do everything in the rain. So I got my stuff together to go and even brought an umbrella cuz it was really bad out there. I searched and searched and couldn't find it.

I think it might be at the Cultural ctr. but only saw one person under a canopy. I checked it out but wasn't sure so I headed home. I'm shocked. I did what I thought all Oregon folks do and nobody was tough enough to do it. I cant believe it but I have to wonder..why have a Farmers Market outside if it rains here alot and nobody is brave enough to go to it in that weather? I read it didn't do well last yr on Saturdays.....perhaps it wasn't the day but the weather.....duh!

So today I posted a note about the different kinds of rain I see here......sort of like Eskimos with different kinds of snow. {{There are several kinds of rain in Oregon...theres partly cloudy...partly sunny........foggy........misty.....drizzling......rain you can play in......rain you can go shopping in and then theres so much rain if you go out in it you will drown. :)}} And I'm not complaining at all. I knew when I moved here I would have lots of rain. After 25yrs in Ca. I loved it, I needed it, I craved it. Between allergies from smoke, dust and pollen killing me there and the heat....I was feeling dried up, ill, melted and old. I needed to leave.

And that's really funny cuz when I moved to Ca. all those yrs ago I was so stoked about coming here. So much sunshine and flowers everywhere but most of all for me....no snow. I left NJ cuz of the freezing winters and tons of snow. Of course after I left there, they have had many mild winters but I don't care. I left NJ sad to leave my life behind but happy to be going where I thought I could breathe and be happy.

Perhaps many yrs ago that was possible in CA. but that state has changed so much that I no longer recognize it. To me its a terrible place to live and I hope my children will be able to leave it too one day. But when I got there I landed closer to SF than before I left it. And just that short 10mi. or so difference, there's a definite difference in weather. I was near the fog belt and I could count on one hand how many warm summer nites I could sit outside, nothing like NJ. It was foggier, mistier and the air was better too.

In NJ summer nites are wonderful......and so when I moved just the next town over to the valley there in Ca., I had those wonderful summer nites there. In fact it would be so warm that several Christmases we could sit outside on the front porch in shorts and sandals. But summers there were brutal....often hitting 110, no rain for months.....dust, pollen and when summer fires came, smoke that permeated everything. I would live inside with AC on and still suffer.

And so I think of that Sunscreen poem..... and this line from it.....

"Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. "

And this line is just so incredibly true. East coasters are strong and tough but often times become too tough. And Ca. folks get too soft and lazy with all the sunshine and cant seem to handle adversity well. And now Ive moved on to a nice combo of both.  I have much of my NJ weather and beaches but not the snow or very very little of it. Its rare here. And I have some Ca. weather too with glorious sunshine but its green here instead of dry and brown. And I still have my sourdough bread and dungeness crabs too.

Oregon feels like paradise in spite of the weather. Its green, fresh air, not crowded. They grow lots of things here too. There's hunting and fishing and farms and yet some cities too. There's the beaches which are too wet and cold to be on most times but I love that cuz there's hardly anyone on them. So it feels wild and I just absorb all that nature.

So here is a poem I wrote long ago before I moved up here, envisioning where I would be. Now that I reread it......I do believe I created this place long before I got here. It fits the poem almost perfectly.

Mothers Day Fantasy

I'm not here, no really I'm not,
I'm where I want to be, in my dreams.

I'm up there, where there's pine and rain
not far from the ocean.

I can see it, all green and earthy
it gleams like a jewel in the sun.

My new home, not far from the sea,
so close it lulls me to sleep.

I'm not here, no really I'm not,
this is just a figment of your imagination you see.

I'm up there, in the mists and rain
in the primordial forests, breathing it in.

I'm on the porch in my wicker rocker
watching the whales in the sea.

I'm there with him, so close, listening
to the ocean, drifting off to sleep.

I'm not here, (shhhh I know I really am)
But I dream of land around me.

And growing things abound,
some wild, some sown by me.

And running free through the forest
becoming one with the trees.

I'll be there soon, I feel it.
Its up there waiting for me.

My first attempt at poetry since High School
P.C. ......seanymph 2008