People down in Phoenix Arizona are suffering through unusually cold weather with temperatures at night hovering near freezing (32F,  0C).  I hear there is snow near Los Angles California   and this morning I saw it was -6 degrees F (-21.1 C) in Denver Colorado.  Yet here in Michigan we took down our Christmas lights on a balmy 50+F (10 C) afternoon.

Though the sky was overcast and the air felt damp we enjoyed our afternoon of packing away the lights.  Normally we are doing this with frozen fingers, bundled up in layers complete with hats and gloves.  Or worse, in blowing snow while tromping through drifts up to our knees.   We commented as we worked that it felt like we were in midwinter Alabama.  And we smiled.

Yet…there is this niggling worry in the back of my mind.  Though it’s easier to deal with outdoor winter tasks when it’s warm, it just feels wrong.  We had an unusually warm day when we put the lights up this past November too…and now are blessed with an easy dismantling.  Something just isn’t right.   Maybe I’m feeling unsettled because I just read Barbara Kingsolver’s latest book, “Flight Behavior” which revolves around the warming of our earth and the consequences wrought by barely discernible changes.  Maybe it’s because I remember winters as a kid where we dug snow caves and argued about whose turn it was to shovel the sidewalk.   So far this winter we’ve only used the snowblower once.  I don’t know if we used it all last winter.  Don’t get me wrong, part of me is grateful that I’m not driving to work in blizzards or shoveling the driveway.  But something just feels wrong.

Now I’ve probably gone and jinxed it, and likely tomorrow’s cold snap will feel more familiar.  And I suppose now there will be 6 or more inches of snow falling on Monday just in time for the morning commute.  But I think I’d be OK with all of that.

Remind me  I said this later on as the winter wears on — won’t you?