And Floridians…

Go out in the midday sun.

But we’ve turned the corner on the weather, I think, and I am so thankful.  A couple of days of 85° temperatures and only 52% humidity.

Note that “only.”

It’s astonishing how relative everything is.

There was a time when 52% humidity would seem awfully high.  (I went to grad school in Denver, for one thing.)  The average relative humidity around here, however, is 89%.  And it rained for all of August.  All of August!  ALL.  So, 52% is a good number.  We like it.

All of a sudden, it is rather pleasant to do yard work.  Mowing, edging, pruning.  I am Gertie the Gardener this week.  Even a mosquito bite seems more bearable when it doesn’t feel like the insect had to swim through the air to get you.

The thing is, however, that it’s a little hard to adjust to this different weather pattern.  In the old days (two years ago), this would be the time of year when I would be launching new writing projects, starting new classes, attending first-meetings-of-the-year for a bunch of organizations to which I belonged.  It would be the time to start putting away outdoor toys and accessories.

Down here, however, I am learning that this is the time to start thinking about your outdoor projects.  Now is when the ligustrum needs to be pruned and anything I want to transplant needs to be dug up and moved (and, knowing me, likely killed–but that’s a different post).

This is the time to think about cleaning out the garage, tidying up the dock.  It’s the time to think about repairing the driveway.  (I don’t know anything about concrete, though, so thinking is as far as that will get for now.)

It’s time to get serious about weeding the flower beds, and it’s probably time to figure out how the lid to the dryer vent comes off and clean out any lint.

Trouble is, of course, that it is still time to be launching new writing projects and whatever else comes with a new year.

Because this is the new year, really.

That thing in January–that’s just a Hallmark holiday.