No, this is not about football or any other professional sport. This is about the seasonal differences between the two states.
I chose Wisconsin because I live here. I chose Florida because I am there every other month compliments of my oldest son who flies me down to spend time with my grandchildren.
I love our four seasons in Wisconsin although if I had to rate them in order of preference, without a doubt winter would be last.
For the last week or so, it’s felt like fall is in the air. Today was in the high 60’s, sunny, and breezy. A perfect day to hang wash on the line. Outside that is. I watch the weather on a daily basis from March through November to pick the right days for just that purpose…hanging wash.
It dawned on me while hanging wash today that they don’t do that in Florida. It’s either too hot, too humid, or raining. I don’t believe in all the time I’ve been going there that I have ever seen a wash line.
In rating our seasons from one through four, it’s difficult to choose which season I would rate as number one…spring or fall. Spring offers a new beginning after a long winter. The trees are leaving, the spring perennials are poking through the ground, and things are greening up. The air smells fresh, the windows can be opened, and on select days, I can hang wash. Florida goes through a ‘winter’ season, but they are never 100% without flowers and they’re not shoveling snow.
However, there is fall that offers so many wonderful things. Craft fairs, cool days and nights, aka sweatshirt weather, leaves turning with amazing shades of gold, red, yellow, and burgundy. Apple picking, pressing apple cider, pumpkins, cornstalks and Halloween. Not to mention the wonderful smell of burning leaves, campfires, hayrides, and preparing for the holidays. Florida has some craft fairs, and some trees do lose their leaves.
My DIL is a Miami born and raised girl. She thinks we’re crazy to live here simply because of winter. About seven or eight years ago my son and DIL came to Wisconsin in January for a family funeral. That girl was going to freeze her butt off. I purchased a matching gloves, hat, and scarf set, and had it sent to her in Miami so she could pack it and bring it along with her. Any layovers north of the Florida – Georgia line was going to test her thin blood. She wasn’t bowled over by a fire in the fireplace or hot cocoa once she got here. Not to mention warming up your car for ten minutes or so before going anywhere.
However, about three years ago, my son and DIL went to northern Michigan (not the UP) with friends in the middle of September. I knew it was going to be chilly and they were staying at a resort on a lake. I suggested that early one morning she bundle up and go out by the lake and just listen. Listen for loons. And she did. And she loved it. Some of the other ladies joined her around a fire pit with blankets and morning coffee. I do believe she was beginning to see the light. She was as giddy as a schoolgirl telling me about all the farms she saw, the apple orchards, and farmers markets. Ahhh…the things we take for granted until they are seen through another’s eyes.
As sweatshirt season approaches, it’s soup making – baking – slow cooker season, and holiday planning in my mind. And while I’m hanging those last loads of laundry for the year, I’m loving the chill in the air, the turning leaves, and the leaves that are falling. Florida doesn’t have this and wouldn’t understand this.
And yet by droves of thousands, folks are moving to Florida every month. Not all for the same reason but I recently heard that an average of 20,000 people move to Florida every month.
I am NOT bashing Florida. After thinking about what we experience here with our four seasons, I feel Floridians are missing something. But you can’t miss what you don’t know. Since I am there every other month, I’ve gotten a good taste of life there, outdoor activities can be year-round, playgrounds are everywhere, and a healthier lifestyle exists in Florida.
After writing this, I’m all psyched up for fall. We had early fall weather this entire past week. I just checked the upcoming weather for the next week. It’s going to be in the eighties.
Back to Basics 