14 posts tagged “weather”
How are you celebrating St. Patrick's Day?
I'm enjoying enduring another day of rather Irish weather: rainy, drizzly, and all around wet and miserable. While saints don't do much for me personally, I'm not going to argue with a day on which so many people proudly wear my favorite color and drink my favorite beer. I actually started last night with a Guinness to celebrate the achievements of the latest class in M's squadron to qualify at the Boat. Some of our friends from Texas were amongst the CQers, so of course we had to go out to congratulate them and find out where they're headed next. Maybe now that they're through, there will be enough available CODs for M's class to have a chance to touch a real airplane before he's spent a full year out of the cockpit. I'm not holding my breath, though. I suppose it gives us more time to enjoy Guinness while we wait.
This is what a snow day looks like in a part of the state that doesn't get a whole lot of wintry precipitation.
Warm Weather: I don't care what Punxsutawney Phil said about six more weeks of winter--spring is definitely in the air. This past weekend was sunny and glorious with highs in the low 70s. I helped M wash the car, so we've been enjoying the shiny blue brilliance over the past few days. We also tried out a new sushi place with a fantastic "bento box" lunch deal and spent some time at a local park. That place was hoppin': teenagers tearing it up at the skate park, young kiddoes screaming gleefully at the playground, kite-flyers flying kites of all colors at the top of the hill, and walkers, joggers, dog-walkers, and stroller-pushers making the circuit around the lake. I love that this park used to be a landfill, and now it's the place to be for all the locals who want to soak up a little outdoor fun.
Star Trek: For the first time in a while, M and I remembered that SciFi shows Star Trek: The Next Generation on Monday nights. So, we watched four hours' worth of my beloved TNG last night. Four hours. It was decadent, even if I did refrain from having any "Tea, Earl Grey, hot."
Hangar Dance: M and I are going back in time for Valentine's Day this year by attending a 1940s-themed "hangar dance" at a military aviation museum. What could be better than listening to a live big band and dancing amongst all manner of really awesome airplanes (the vast majority of which are restored and still flyable)? M is going to look classically snazzy in his Service Dress Blues, and I'm wearing a vintage 1940s suit from my grandmother--with bright red lipstick. I found out about the dance through a fellow Civil Air Patrol member who also happens to volunteer at the museum, so I knew there would be at least a few acquaintances there, but I just found out that a buddy of ours is also going. He'll be wearing the eminently historical Aviation Working Greens, which he has been campaigning hard to save from the Navy's scrap heap. I can't wait to see what the other dance-goers come up with.
February 10th is Umbrella Day. Show us a picture of your umbrella.
Submitted by Emeree.
This is not my umbrella. I'm not even sure I have an umbrella right now; certainly it's nowhere I can find it. If I had $55 to blow on a rain deflection device, though, this is the one I would get:
What can I say? I have a thing for gadgets. The only thing that could make it better would be if it came in bright colors. My opinion (as evidenced by my bright green rain trenchcoat) is that rain gear should be as bright and cheerful as possible in order to counteract the dreariness of the days on which such accoutrements would be used.
Congrats on getting your Vox Hunt submission up on the main page, Vox Neighbor Emeree. :-)
The snow flurries confirm it: we are back in a land where we get all four seasons!
Well, I mean, we knew that already (what with the cross-country move
and the buying a house and living here for the past several months and
all). But this here meteorological event is the incontrovertible proof
to my soul. I am seized with a curious desire to make paper snowflakes and spend the day curled up with a mug of hot chocolate.
It's Election Day! How was your voting experience?
I just got back from a brisk walk to the neighborhood elementary school to cast my ballot. It's drizzling, so I got to snuggle into my bright green rain trenchcoat before finding my way to the little gym where the voting machines were set up. I showed my ID, the lady checked me off on the computer, and handed me my access card, which I took over to the touchscreen machine. A few touches later, I was ready to squeaky-shoe over to the door for my "I Voted" sticker and head home. Pretty painless, all in all.
There was hardly any line at all; I had thought there would be more people voting on their lunch hour. I wonder if I just hit at a slow time of the day, because it would be a real shame if a little drizzle kept people from exercising their hard-won right to participate in our country's government. Veterans Day isn't until next week, but Election Day is not a bad time to remember those who have fought and continue to fight for that freedom that allows us to voice our opinions.
After yesterday's adventure with bad weather, flight delays, and spending eight hours in an exceedingly ugly and ill-equipped concourse at Miami International Airport, M and I are back from our week's vacation/honeymoon in the Bahamas. We had a great time on the island (fear not, a post with more details is in the offing as soon as I get my pictures organized), but it is wonderful to be back home to our kitties and our Internet access and our own bed and gorgeous autumn weather.
Now, off to make a grocery list and drag ourselves to the commissary so we can do important things like, y'know, eat. I'm itching to do some real cooking after my vacation-enforced break. As an added bonus, it is now close enough to Halloween that the purchase of all that temptingly fun-sized candy is now totally justified. Gotta get ready for those trick-or-treaters, and I care so much about their hopes for a delicious Halloween haul that I am willing to personally submit myself to candy quality control before we hand out the goods. It's for the children.
What is your favorite thing to do on a rainy day?
This QotD sounds familiar. My answer hasn't changed much in the past two years, although the aforementioned fiancé is now my husband, and he'll now drink teas other than peppermint. Spiced chai, no milk, and lots of honey is a favorite of his, but I take it sans honey because I'm strange and don't much care for sweet tea in hot or iced form. I'll also add that having a purring kitty on one's lap is another fine addition to rainy day activities.
We had some pretty serious afternoon downpours both yesterday afternoon and the day before. Lucky for us that they each occurred after we had returned home from Rosh Hashanah services for the day, but we did miss out on Tashlikh. Who needs to travel to a body of water when the road is looking distinctly river-like right outside your door? M and I might still go do our own version out at the duck feeding area near the botanical garden. I wonder what might be the implications of ducks and geese gobbling up the breadcrumb "sins" we cast into the water. Pretty wacky stuff, ritual, but Homo religioso (as we are somewhat whimsically denoted by those scholars that view spiritual tendencies as neurobiological imperatives, evolved as surely as the ability to distinguish color or develop language) seems to thrive upon it.
What are your first thoughts upon waking?
Submitted by Cher Cabula.
This morning, my first groggy thought was something along the lines of, "Mmph, I'm cold." The second thought was about how magnificent that chill felt, considering that it was still about 85° F in the room when I went to sleep. The A/C guy had indeed come yesterday evening and (temporarily) fixed my folks' air conditioning system, but it took the night to bring the temperature in the house back down. It's hot again today, but that's a lot easier to deal with when one can escape inside--or to one's grandparents' house, which is what my brother and I did yesterday afternoon. Mom came over to cool off for a bit, but she had to go back and wait in an oppressively warm house for the guy to come take a look at the system. Let's hope it stays working until a more permanent fix can be implemented.
Boy, what a weekend. The horse I hoped would win the Triple Crown came in dead last and the air conditioning crapped out last night, probably as a delayed result of the power outage earlier in the week. Today's projected high temperature: 99° Fahrenheit. That's 37.222° for those of you who speak Celsius, or 310.37 Kelvin for the scientists. Since the A/C guy is off enjoying the wonderful world of general aviation (bah, I know too many pilots) until late this afternoon, my mother, brother, and I are heading over to chill--quite literally--at my grandparents' place.
Hope the rest of you are staying cool and hydrated and all that good, non-heat-stroke-inducing stuff.
