Welcome! It’s Friday, and around here that means another installment of the Marketing for Romance Authors 52-week blog challenge. It’s week 38, so we’re closing in on the finish line. Back in January, I wasn’t sure I’d make it this far, but its actually been quite a lot of fun. This week’s prompt is The Best Parts of Each Season.
And once again, I’m left scratching my head. I currently live in Florida, where they’re aren’t four seasons–at least not as I know them. Not having distinct seasons is one of the things I miss most about home. For this post, I’m probably going to flip-flop a bit, going home again to remember what I love and miss about some seasons and celebrating where I am now for others.
Spring, of course, is renewal. New life. Warmer temperatures after a long, cold winter. I miss the smell of the earth waking up in the early spring, the sight of crocus peeking their heads up out of th
e snow, of tulips, daffodils, hyacinth and pansies nodding in the garden. I miss the return of the birds after the snowy season, the soft green bud of leave on the trees. I miss lilacs and forsythia, two of my favorite flowering trees. Lilacs always make me think of my Carter grandparents. Snowball bushes make me think of my Lewis grandparents, and forsythia touches a soft spot in my heart put there by my late-ex-husband, who planted three forsythia where I could see them from the kitchen window when we bought our home together. Where I live now, most of these things don’t grow. The earth never goes to sleep, so it never really wakes up again. I do occasionally see pansies at the grocery store, though. In November. Ive never seen one living in a yard.
The best part of summer is that my grandkids come to visit for a month every year. My house explodes with joy from the minute they arrive until they go home again. Even during the months they’re so far away, I keep their paper, Crayons, markers, scissors, glue, and other necessaries handy so they’re always in place when the kids walk through the door. And that’s the first place the kids go when they arrive. I love that they’re perfectly content to hang out at home, drawing and painting and making puppets and playing board games, and don’t require me to entertain them constantly. In fact, this year, I planned to take them to the free movie every week during their visit. They opted out half the time because they just wanted to stay home. This year, I got an extra treat because my daughter came to visit for 10 days. Summer was great this year. I can’t wait for the next one.
For autumn, I have to travel back home again because fall kind of skips us here in Florida. I miss the crisp, cool nights and warm days, the smell of the earth, the sound of leaves beneath my feet as I walk. I miss October. I miss the colors of autumn. I miss wearing sweaters and boots. I miss the way people back home used to decorate for autumn, especially or Halloween. I live in the Bible best here, so Halloween really isn’t a thing i this area. I miss needing warm blankets and soft, fuzzy socks on my feet. I miss hayrides in the cold and needing to turn on the heater now and then. I miss sitting in front of a crackling fire and toasting marshmallows.
I’m a hybrid when it comes to winter. I love the idea of snow. I love sitting in my nice, warm house and watching it fall from the sky. I love the way the lawn looks after a fresh snowfall, before anyone or anything has disturbed it. I like the cold. Yeah. I do. I like being able to get in out of the cold. You can’t really appreciate a warm house until you’ve been outside on a cold winter night. But the reality of snow…? Not so much
. I don’t do anything in the snow. Don’t ski or snowboard or sled anymore. I don’t tube down the side of a hill these days. So winter is really a spectator sport for me. Which is why I appreciate winter in Florida. It’s the only season I rank higher here in the South than up North, but all you need is one, right? I love being able to take a walk in capris and a T-shirt in the middle of January. I love rolling my eyes at friends who bundle up in winter coats when the temperature drops all the way to 70. I love sitting in my house in February with the windows open. I love not having to shovel snow and not slipping and falling on the ice. Still, around Christmas, when it’s definitely not white outside, and people put up snowman lights beneath their palm trees, I find myself longing to sit in my nice, warm house snuggled up under an afghan I made myself, sipping a mug full of hot cocoa, and watch the snow fall through my window.
I’d love to hear what you think are the best things about each season, and don’t forget this is a bloghop. Check out what the other authors who are participating have to say. (Their links are below)
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I can almost hear you humming, “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas.”
I was born and raised in South Florida, so I totally understand about non-seasons in FL. Winter was awesome, but I missed not having fall and spring and I wanted more than two weeks of winter. Your post made me look forward to all the fun things that fall brings, though, instead of “dreading” it because winter isn’t too far away. š
I love “winter is a spectator sport” that’s perfect! Even though I live in Pennsylvania- I can concur with that. š
Winter as a spectator sport is perfect. Watching the icycles form, the snow fall. And a great reason to read a good book.
Yeah, I love the cold when I can snuggle with a blanket and a cup of cocoa. Awesome post.
I am the same way about the snow. It’s pretty to look at, but I’m not really interested in being out in it doing things.
I have a friend in Jacksonville and her husband likes to keep the AC on year round. It’s nuts, but she does get cold so they are always ‘fighting’ over that.
Sigh* and, I truly love your idea of Winter Florida-style! I need to move — like a majority of Michigan snow-birds tend to do come October and return from Florida in May š
How wonderful that your grandkids come for a whole month!
We used to spend 3 weeks in St. Pete with my grandparents every July, and I miss my ‘summer home’.
It’s great that you get to have your grandkids for a month in the summer. I love the cozy nights of winter, but if it only lasted about a month, I’d be happy. I spent part of December in Northern California once. I didn’t mind walking around with a sleeveless dress for my son’s wedding.