Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Winter (11/14/05)
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TITLE: A Flight South | Previous Challenge Entry
By Karen Persson
11/20/05 -
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The word ‘precipitation’ is so seldom used that many wonder what on earth the weather man is talking about on those very rare occasions he uses it. The land is continuously parched by the fiery orb in the heavens. If ever you travel from the north by air to the south over the Golden State, the beautiful green of Northern California begins to disappear just south of Oakland. By the time you are over Bakersfield, you will notice an absence of color other than beige, until you are directly over some of the more densely populated cities, yet even further south, which add spots of blue to the palette, confirming the presence of a mysterious aquifer to fill those much needed swimming pools. Below, in the midst of the yellow-orange smog that continually pollutes the air, exists the concrete jungles; the big cities. These are grey and display lines of dotted green; evidence of some very hardy drought tolerant trees and also some expanses of lawn. Don’t believe all those lawns are kept green by water though; spray painting grass is becoming big business there.
The allotment of seasons in Southern California is as follows: 9 months of summer followed by 1 month of very hot dry winds in the autumn (These are the famous Santa Ana winds.) that rip the leaves from the deciduous trees to prepare them for the 1 month of winter, when temperatures will dip down into the 70’s. Winter is followed by an average of 2 weeks of glorious spring when the flowers bloom, but you have to be careful not to stay in the sun too long or you will forget summer has not arrived yet. After spring it feels like the heat from an oven again as the ‘endless bummer’ gets under way.
Growing up in sunny Southern California, the storybook winters and photos of landscapes covered with snow were childhood fantasies which I would often dwell on, as I lived many hot Christmas days playing in shorts and a tank top. I longed for the need of a crackling toasty fire that I could snuggle up next to in a warm blanket and sip hot chocolate.
Some desperate souls actually cover their entire lawn with batting (Yes, the kind you use to make hand sewn blankets with.) at Christmas time in an attempt to portray the beauty of snow in the cold of winter.
This coming March it will have been two years since my husband and I, along with our four children, joined the mass exodus out of California. The heat, materialism, social and geographical environment, and I can’t ignore mentioning, the tremendously high cost of living was cause enough for us to seek, what we believe to be, a better way of life.
Having moved to a region of the United States where winter, spring, summer and fall are given an equal share of the calendar, I have truly come to appreciate the beauty God created in the four seasons. Each has unique characteristics and holds their own splendor. I like them all, but if asked to choose my favorite I would have to say winter is the one I like the most. There is nothing like walking outside and filling my lungs with that frigid air of winter. The water in the rivers and ponds is so cold it looks like syrup as the ripples push heavily across the surface. And I don’t think I’ll ever tire of that glorious precipitation we call snow. If I do, I’ll remedy it by taking a flight south over the Golden State.
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