I wake up each morning at 5:30am. I make my coffee and I check my email, tweets, and as many blogs as I can cram in before starting my day. This morning, there were many tweets from my eastern and mid-western friends complaining of temperatures well-below freezing, of schools closing due to extreme wind-chill, of hoping their cars would start in this cold.
Meanwhile, I debated whether or not to start a fire this morning because it’s only 35F and it’s going to get up into the 70’s again today so there’s really no point, is there?
I don’t post this to brag . . . really. And, I’m not going to whine and say anything about the lack of rain and how I really wish we were having a real winter. In all honesty, our weather is near perfect for me right now and I post because a friend asked me to describe what “warm” feels like.
Today, I’ll be wearing jeans, a shirt, and a light sweater. When I drive to work, I’ll forget to put my gloves and my fingers will be too cold on the steering wheel. I’ll shiver as I walk between the office and my classroom before school starts. By the time I have yard duty, I’ll be glad to stand in the sunshine while watching the kids play. Many of those kids will be wearing shorts and no jackets because well, I don’t know why really, 35F is a bit chilly for shorts in my opinion. When my kids come in from PE this morning, those that wore sweatshirts will have left them on the field and will have to go back out and get them again. The mercury is slipping up into the warm temperatures. When I walk to the staff room at lunchtime, I will be basking in the sun’s warmth, enjoying the feel of it on my face. When I leave school around 4:30 today, the sun will be getting ready to slip behind the mountains. The heat of the day doesn’t linger in the winter months. The sun doesn’t pack a punch in the winter. By the time I get home, I’ll be hoping that there is a fire in the woodstove as my evening temperatures dip down to the chilly mid-30’s. But, I will enjoy the weather today while thinking of my friends who are wishing their highs were as high as my lows.
So, Bev, does a description of the warmth help you cope or make it all worse? 
mother. wife. friend. teacher. writer. reader. photographer. birder. quilter. blogger.
Liza Lee Miller 
Wonderful description, Liza. Here at the coast, it starts warming up as soon as the sun clears the hills, which as I type this has just happened (7:29 am). By 10:00, it will be warm enough to sit in the yard in short-sleeved shirts, sans shoes and socks. The sunlight on the water is diamond-sparkly adding even more reflective warmth into the atmosphere. It is easy to relax and let the sun’s rays penetrate into winter pale flesh, and get a first little blush of color.
Our temperature is about half that.
I don’t know what Bev thinks, but it helped me to know that someone, somewhere is warm – even if it’s not me.
Thanks, Liza. We needed that.
(It will be ZERO or LOWER tomorrow)