Seasons in the south: Nailed it!

I couldn't live without seasons.  That's what people up north say as a reason not to move south. That transition into different seasons reminds one of the wonder of our universe.  Trees change color in fall, the first snowfall of winter, flowers blooming in spring.  Ok, fine.


But honestly, we, too, have our ways of identifying seasons here in the south.  Take pedicures.  Our summer nails are beautiful.  Out there for all to see.  Transition into fall and you can see nail color begin to fade and fall away. In winter, we keep our nails indoors and always covered to protect them from the frigid 40 degree temps.  Frigid.  Then along comes spring and the bloom is on the nail.  Colorful reds and pinks and purple and green and orange and brown.  These pops of color hold all through summer season and on into fall transition.  I am hearing that song...


To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn


And in the South, we have all four - turn, turn, turn! 

John Cornyn's radio ad makes me smile

Living in Texas it's fitting that campaign season and cedar pollen should arrive at about the same.  Both are intolerable.

Something that has helped - besides Allegra without D - is a comedy TV show called Alpha House, an Amazon Original series.  It's about a bunch of Republican senators sharing a house, hence Alpha House.  The show's political humor can be appreciated by all sides: left and right, north and south.

The show stars John Goodman, reason alone to love the series, but also features an incredible supporting cast that includes Haley Joel Osment (I see dead people), Kelly Ripa's husband, Wanda Sikes AND Bill Murray, who appears in the first and last episodes.

I know this show is helping me through campaign season because I didn't want to kill myself after listening to a John Cornyn radio ad.  It actually made me smile.  Almost laugh.  It sounded like it belonged to one of the characters on my new favorite show Alpha House.  I swear it felt like I was listening to comedy.

Alas, the first season already has ended.  Oh well.  As an antidote to the uber conservative Texas campaigns, I feel it will be fine to watch a second time - or as often as indicated.   

It's cold but I can't complain

Today the wind chill is 6 degrees!  Single digit!!  Problem is, a little farther north the wind chill is minus double digits!  So I can't really complain. 

What's causing the coldest temps recorded in about 20 years?  Polar vortex.  A phenomenon that 99 percent of us (be honest) had never heard of before.  What a cool word (pun intended). 

It turns out that a polar vortex is really a persistent cyclone.  Cyclone!!  This one initiates from the North Pole.  How cool is that (again, intended pun)?

Climate change doubters will no doubt point to this as evidence of there being no evidence of shifting climate.  That's ok.  Let 'em have their day.  They likely have been feeling a lonely lately as the majority of us have pushed forward without them.

This polar vortex event however IS real evidence of the unpredictability of weather and its humbling nature.  It has stopped a hardy bunch of northerners in their tracks.  I used to be one of them and can recall specific days of minus double digit weather BEFORE adding the wind chill.  But as reports are telling us, this polar vortex is dropping temps to numbers not felt in 20 years.  That's scary.

Sending warm thoughts and prayers to my family and friends up north.