Remember the Looney Tunes scenes where a character shape-shifts to blend in with its surroundings? (Think Bugs Bunny mimicking a tree, Porky Pig being slapped around and crammed into a uniform to look like a soldier, and Wiley Coyote trying to look like anything but a coyote.) That's sort of what's happening to me right now, so I'm thinking it's best to write down my observations before the metamorphosis is complete. I'm pretty sure I'll get amnesia about my 20 Northwest years. I can feel my inner Californian resurfacing, and there will be no way to stuff her back in the box once she's out.
I'm starting to smile goofily at strangers for no good reason, 60 degrees is beginning to feel chilly, and massive amounts of caffein do not call to me any more. I think the 70 mph sign on the freeway is a minimum speed limit. Yesterday, Oprah interviewed a famous female porn star and then broke for a commercial that showed our local weather person. The porn star and the weather woman looked like twins, and it didn't seem weird to me.
I expect sunshine when I open my blinds in the morning, and I'm starting to forget what it's like to put on two layers of clothing, a hat, and boots just to take the little dog out. I can almost tell apart the neighbors who have shared plastic surgeons and now look like each other. Swimming in an outdoor swimming pool in November has stopped feeling like a magical wonder and now just feels like a delicious luxury for which I will ever be grateful. Palm trees are back in my consciousness.
It's going to take a little longer to get used to the quantities of personal information Californians immediately share with strangers. Seattlites hold their cards close to their chests and sometimes don't change their expressions for hours, even when walking through a group of smiling people. They say it's the Scandinavian ancestry. I think it's the darkness. It's hard to be gregarious when you're struggling to determine if you should be asleep or awake. Sunscreen is the only thing Californians buy in the same quantities that Northwesterners buy caffeine. No little endcap at Walgreen's can contain the length and width of California sunscreen variety--whole rows are devoted to the stuff. I wouldn't be surprised to find that many California newlyweds met at the sunscreen display.
Blue sky, being able to see for miles, and tiny lizards living under my shutters are becoming commonplace in my daily life. I no longer expect hand-numbingly cold water from the cold water tap. I don't know how to turn on the heater in my house and don't expect I will need to know. But those are desert things, not just California things. Being expected to look good while chasing little lizards and drinking tepid water, however, definitely is a California thing. Ah, well. It may a while before I can meet that expectation. Maybe a long while.
In the meantime, I'll just practice saying, "Have a nice day!" like I mean it, and talking to the person next to me in line at the grocery store about my dog's most intimate problems.
Have a nice day, OK?
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5 comments:
Just don't forget what the PNW weather is like during the winter...so when it drops to 50 degrees and the wind kicks up to 20mph and the rain gauge measures some moisture, you can say with authority "this is nothing compared to Seattle weather!" Last year was the year of the snow. I suspect that this year might be the year of the endless windstorms. We've had a windstorm nearly everyday for the past week. Seattle's had about 30 to 45mph winds while poor Hoquiam and Friday Harbor are seeing 60mph gusts...Bellingham has it the worst. However...the rainy weather here means absolutely no guilt whatsoever about spending a day in a cozy blanket while reading a novel. If you no longer feel guilt about staying inside while it's sunny outside, then yes, you've completed the metamorphosis (in my opinion). Take care! -CP
Bless you! You just made it all worthwhile--moving into my house in 118-degree weather,facing down big black bugs on the patio at 3am, and finding out I live so close to the San Andreas fault I can go take a jeep tour of it.
And it's amazing how fast guilt at staying indoors in sunny weather dissipates when you can depend on its being there again tomorrow. I can actually sing that song from Annie ("The sun'll come up tomorrow...") without feeling like a misguided Pollyanna!
I'm laughing at the cold water scenario...when we lived in Hawaii, I remember getting irritated that I could NEVER get the cold water cold enough -- the water from the faucet was always warm. Now that we're here, the water is TOO cold!
If you ever feel like reading up on the latest PNW weather...(since it might get boring with all that incessant sunshine ;-) ), cliffmass.blogspot.com might be a good blog to visit. Some of it gets a bit too dense, but I'm addicted to it now...
-CP
ps-have you taken the jeep tour of the San Andreas fault? At least with this one, you can confront it and stare it right in the eye whereas the faults in the PNW are deep underground or hidden by all that pesky green stuff called vegetation...talk about passive agressive!
Hey Monkey Pod: yeah, now that I'm getting used to the water, my old arthritic hands are grateful for the lack of ice crystals in the tap water!
Thanks, Anonymous, for the link to cliffmass.blogspot. PNW weather is nothing if not constantly engaging. I used to set up my day around Jeff Renner's time predictions ("yes, it's sunny now, but at 3pm we're going to get a huge windstorm...") He was usually right. I continued my habit of consulting the weather report each morning when I first got here, but it's so...um....boring, I finally asked myself why I was wasting my time! But boring sunny is good, I think. I like dependable!
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