The Big Chill
Nov. 21st, 2005 08:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aamusedinatxThe high pressure ridge remains over the West and so our wonderfully summer-like weather in November continues.
It's great, but...
Our fire danger here in the Oakland/Berkeley hills is high. Ventura county, down in Southern California, is experiencing the same thing with the Santa Ana winds. I call them that here too, but of course we lack the Santa Ana range and here they are simply called an off-shore flow.
Wind and sun. There is no fog, no moisture in the air to speak of. The nights are crisp and cool but they are not damp. Damp is what gives us our winter green after the long burnt umber of summer. Our rainy season is what washes all this pollen out of the air so my sinuses will behave. Rain is what gives us the snow pack in the Sierra, which is what supplies our water in the dryer months. No rain = no snow = drought.
So, while I have to admit I am enjoying the mild mornings, warm days, and cool nights...I worry just a bit.
I sat last night, spinning through 120 channels of nothing-much-to-watch when I came upon a program on the History Channel called Little Ice Age|Big Chill. Did anyone else happen to see this? Now, I profess to have a bit more than a passing knowledge in history--and not just American history. If it weren't for music, I might have pursued a degree in world history. It has always been one of my most favorite subjects. I learned of the little ice age and its impact on the middle ages. What I did not realize and I swear I was not taught this, is that the little ice age lasted 500 years. Yup, it ended in 1850. So it was a contributing factor still to such events as the French Revolution, Washington crossing the Delaware, and The Irish Potato Famine. I honestly had no idea it lasted that long. It has been a while since I sat absorbed in the boob tube for something other than a movie I wanted to watch. A refreshing night of decent TV, for a change.
As for...the rest. Well, my birthday week ended with a whimper, but really, perhaps that's how it should be and perhaps a week of birthday is just a bit more hubris then I should have allotted myself. These situations have a way of balancing themselves out I suppose. I'm better, the Enigma is better, and with a cloak of sadness and regret we all move through our regular day to day existence because it is what we do, what is required of us, and because in the end, death is always hardest on those who survive. Afterall, we are the ones who must keep on living.
It's great, but...
Our fire danger here in the Oakland/Berkeley hills is high. Ventura county, down in Southern California, is experiencing the same thing with the Santa Ana winds. I call them that here too, but of course we lack the Santa Ana range and here they are simply called an off-shore flow.
Wind and sun. There is no fog, no moisture in the air to speak of. The nights are crisp and cool but they are not damp. Damp is what gives us our winter green after the long burnt umber of summer. Our rainy season is what washes all this pollen out of the air so my sinuses will behave. Rain is what gives us the snow pack in the Sierra, which is what supplies our water in the dryer months. No rain = no snow = drought.
So, while I have to admit I am enjoying the mild mornings, warm days, and cool nights...I worry just a bit.
I sat last night, spinning through 120 channels of nothing-much-to-watch when I came upon a program on the History Channel called Little Ice Age|Big Chill. Did anyone else happen to see this? Now, I profess to have a bit more than a passing knowledge in history--and not just American history. If it weren't for music, I might have pursued a degree in world history. It has always been one of my most favorite subjects. I learned of the little ice age and its impact on the middle ages. What I did not realize and I swear I was not taught this, is that the little ice age lasted 500 years. Yup, it ended in 1850. So it was a contributing factor still to such events as the French Revolution, Washington crossing the Delaware, and The Irish Potato Famine. I honestly had no idea it lasted that long. It has been a while since I sat absorbed in the boob tube for something other than a movie I wanted to watch. A refreshing night of decent TV, for a change.
As for...the rest. Well, my birthday week ended with a whimper, but really, perhaps that's how it should be and perhaps a week of birthday is just a bit more hubris then I should have allotted myself. These situations have a way of balancing themselves out I suppose. I'm better, the Enigma is better, and with a cloak of sadness and regret we all move through our regular day to day existence because it is what we do, what is required of us, and because in the end, death is always hardest on those who survive. Afterall, we are the ones who must keep on living.
