Spring

 

Most of us like the Spring and Fall of each year where the weather is mind and the environment around us is changing.  Some of us like the heat and humidity of summer while others like the cold and snow of winter.  For the most part, our likes and dislikes are predicated upon where we grew up, although they change as we grow old with many older couples in the north move south when they retire.

For me, I have always been in the south, if you consider Northern Virginia in the south, with a break of four years in the hot but dry climate of Cairo, Egypt from 1962-1966.  It was there that I attended high school, growing up away from the bad influences of an American high school.  I went to school with sons and daughters of diplomats from fifteen different countries and it was their influences that molded me.

As I grow older, I find that not only do I like the south because of its lifestyle and low cost of living but because of its mild and short winters.  As a result, where we live in the south only has 10-12 weeks of cold weather and maybe (just maybe) 3-5 weeks or really cold weather.  

This leaves us with FORTY WEEKS of relatively great weather.

Spring can start in the middle of March and Fall can last until the end of December.

With that said, Spring is my favorite season not just because nature is growing back out of winter, but because of the warm but not too warm temperatures and the lack of humidity.  As my wife and I grow older, humidity and freezing cold really bothers us.

In the spring, the trees and bushes start to grow back after being trimmed in the fall.  The leaves on the trees start to grow out.  We begin to see squirrels and rabbits moving through the yards.  Birds of all kinds are out, letting everyone know where they are.  We plant flowers, put out our deck furniture, and plant our vegetable from which we will eat most of the summer, freezing what we cannot eat for the winter.

Spring brings the pollen but that does not seem to bother me as much as it does my wife.  What bothers me are the bees and the insects and mosquitos that bite me, causing me to wear long pants and long sleeve shirts when I work outside.

BUT EVEN THEN...  this is the time of the year I prefer...