I went up to Austin on Saturday morning to visit my daughter. We had a really good time just taking it easy. We took a walk along the Lady Bird Lake, which I have always thought of as a river. (It flows through the city, but I'm guessing that since a man-made dam is involved, it's not a river.) My husband refers to it as Town Lake, which was its name before being renamed.
After our walk, we went out to dinner, watched television, and yakked the night away. The weather was unbelievably beautiful on Saturday. Both my daughter and I wore short sleeve shirts. It felt downright balmy at times. Fast forward less than twelve hours.
Yow! The weather on Sunday was the norm for a January day in this part of Texas. I was very glad I had bothered to check the weather forecast before I headed up on Saturday. Around here, if you're going out of town, you had better pack for two separate "seasons." IT was definitely long sleeves and jacket weather on Sunday. (All of you in the northern part of the country would probably consider our Sunday "cold front" weather as "unbelievably beautiful" for your areas. I know this is a case of relativity.)
I remember back to when our children were still in school. >>> Every morning, while my husband was showering, I would tune in to the Weather Channel, and get the day's forecast. I was always ready with the shorts VS long pants, short sleeve VS long sleeves, jacket VS no jacket, forecast they would need for the day. It was never "coat" weather.
I actually remember buying them heavy jackets when we first moved here. People kept telling us that every five (or so) years there would be snow. I was determined we would be ready for it! Those snow jackets were a big waste of money. In all the years we have lived here, only one time was there something on the ground that resembled snow – although it was so thinly distributed on the lawn that it was almost not worth waking everyone up to see it. Almost…
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A word of caution here Danna, DON’T throw away those winter coats. That’s a sure invitation for a huge snowstorm!!
Linda, since that was twenty years ago, when my children were very small, those winter jackets were donated to Goodwill a long time ago.
As one who lives in Fort Worth, but from Minnesota originally, I laughed/empathized at your writing. Perfectly written. Loved it!
Oh my gosh, Jackie C. I’ll bet you miss the four distinct seasons as much as I do! My favorite winter memories come from the times I spent the Christmas holidays at my grandmother’s home in Northwood, Iowa – right “down the road” from Minnesota.
I’m glad you had a nice visit with your daughter in spite of the roller coaster weather!
Susan, “roller coaster” does indeed describe our weather!
Danna, My daughter and her family drove to Austin on January 5 and stayed the week. They went to San Antonio before the rains came. During the rain storms, they visited LBJ and Bush’s libraries. That was the purpose of their trip as they are trying to visit presidential libraries. They were impressed by the libraries, San Antonio, and Austin, but found the weather most discouraging.
Shame on me, Regina! I have yet to visit either of those presidential libraries in Austin. I have mentioned visiting them a few times over the years – but have never gotten any takers. We get rain so seldom (we’re usually in one of the stages of drought Re: our water usage) that it is really a shame they were here for those rains.
Sounds like you had a wonderful time on your trip! =)
I can understand about changes in weather, I live in KS..where the weather changes almost daily. =)
Melissa, I didn’t realize Kansas had daily-changing weather. I guess I thought of you all having snow on the ground most of the winter.
I’m from upstate New York, born and raised, and up here in January we’re grateful if a winter storm “only” brings 6 inches of snow (that counts as dodging a bullet). That’s not to say we get that many snowstorms; certainly not as many in recent years as I remember from childhood. And each storm just makes spring – when it eventually gets here- that much more of an event.
Julia, that sounds an awful lot like when I lived in Nebraska and Iowa. For some reason, I sort of remember my years in Colorado as a lot milder than what you are describing.
you may already know this, but just in case – the first Kerry Greenwood Phryne Fisher book Kindle version is free on Amazon today. a friend just recommended this series to me, and I always start at the first book, so this was just serendipity.
Thanks for the Kerry Greenwood tip, Marge.
It’s cold here in Austin again today–33 so far. I don’t remember quite this many cold days in a row here in Jan. I usually am out planting onions and maybe trying to sneak in some beans and beets. This year? Not so much…maybe next week!
Maria, you must be loving our current gardening-planting-onions weather that we are experiencing down here in Texas!
“It was never ‘coat’ weather” sounds like a great place to live!
I’m in NC and we rarely have big snowfalls, except on my birthday. Maybe that’s why I prefer a warm, sunny climate to ever having winter!
Donna, but your seasons must be beautiful in North Carolina.
We walked along Lady Bird Lake when we went to Austin. It’s a lovely area. I had the opposite problem when we moved from California to Texas in December, I thought the weather would be similar and all we had was shorts and t-shirts.
Ann
Ann, silly of us, we walked along Lady Bird Lake on the wrong side! We couldn’t find a parking lot, and when we got to the downtown side, we found one. I totally misunderstood that there is a definite difference in the sides, so I told my daughter to go ahead and park. She has been there several times before, but for some reason, I didn’t get what she was telling me about the difference in sides. The right side has that wonderful park stretching all along the “lake” – and the wrong side is sort of cramped right up to it. No wonder we found a parking lot!
I completely understand Danna! I live in South Florida and I have never owned a “coat”. Seems like every year we get a handful of days where I think well maybe I should invest in one for everyone, but on those days I just layer everyone up and we all survive just fine. This year is a little different though, we have yet to have the temp dip below 65 in the daytime and that’s only happened twice since November. Yesterday is was a high of 84 degrees! Even me, a native Floridian, thinks that is way too hot for January! I would love to see a cold front right about now…but only for a few days!
Angela, we are heading up to Colorado in a few days, and I have a feeling we are going to be needing those coats. My husband and son just returned from Florida, and they thought it was even hotter than what we experience here in San Antonio. That IS hot!