Do you think it's going to rain?

Weather and Culture Woes

efore I moved back to the country and even after I returned to upstate NY...I could not imagine why so much thinking power was wasted on discussions about the weather...what the forecast was, how the possibility of a good day invited activity, how the cold affected my mother's (and now my) joints, how the hail shattered the tulips, how weather took on personality and invaded our lives like an uninvited guest. The "talk" was extremely tedious.

These days, Global Warming, hopefully creates a place for "weather awareness" within every household. But on a local scale, during my several year initiation back into country life, I wondered...did anyone think about things not tinged by the weather?

Slowly, slowly the country seeped back into my structure as if, as I breathed in cleaner air - I became infected (again) after a long hiatus in warmer (and much dirtier) climes. I came to understand that in moving from a place (NYC) where people were too busy to notice if or when they were walking in puddles or slush or sunshine... that noticing and discussing the rain or snow or the fairness of a day...was part of the good news of country life. Suddenly I had the time to notice more of my physical environment.

Country Madness

Now, these ten years after, in the full bloom of the country madness ...I ponder the next rain, pity the birch's lack of water, irrigate the garden with a timer thing and little dribbley hoses to make sure everyone collects at least a small drink...watch the leaves fall, get the bulbs in the ground (no, not the ones requiring electricity –yes, the ones which will blossom) and anticipate next Spring before Fall is even in full swing (which is, by the way, a topic of debate in the most particular detail in the Yankee world – everyone has an opinion about when the leaves are in peak color) and so on and so on.

the rose cottage backyard, photo credit: j.golin

Nearly everyone around me is totally infected with the beauty and complexity of the ecosystem they live within. In part, this is why country folk (yep, and me) are often obsessed with the weather. We love it. Our perceptions are totally linked to the sun shining or the sky leaking. Here at the rose cottage (the 200 plus year old house I live, work and blog within) we do a lot of stopping to smell "them" (or at least think about smelling them) year in, year out.

Personal history it seems is always about contrasts and anticipation and balance, good days, bad days...the record of our own internal weather systems.