More Light...
Thursday, April 2, 2009 at 10:01PM Goethe's last words were More Light! Being a Minnesota girl, I can identify. I still get a goofy grin on my face when folks here in Santa Barbara complain about the weather in this land of perpetual Spring.
I am a Winter Wimp. I am not made of the hearty stuff that takes deadly windchill factors in stride. When I lived in Minnesota and Iowa, my dread would start to hum as early as September, as the days grew shorter, grayer, colder, DARKER. I knew too well how they would and last and last and LAST until deep into the days of May.
But here, when we're out walking , I turn to Brian and do my best impression of a forties starlet (being filmed through gauze), fluttering my eyelashes and saying Happy January Darling with a winsome smile. I do this in February, too, and November and March....
It's not that we don't have ANY winter here. I mean, sometimes it rains.
Midwestern stoicism is not made-up. Most folks there grumble a bit, but are cheerfully resigned about the whole business, or even pleased. I like to think that now that I'm older, wiser, better at staying present to each day, I would be the same. But I have my doubts. Maybe I carry enough clouds and fog in my nature that I need this bright place to free my heart for tasks other than wishing always for more light. Or maybe I'm just a Winter Wimp.
Santa Barbara, light, winter 
Reader Comments (4)
The nice thing about a long winter is the incredible feeling you get when spring finally arrives. If you are surrounded by near perfect weather year round you become complacent. There is something magical in the changing of the seasons. You too become a part of the natural world and have a rebirth of your own. As much as I love my years in Arizona, I never felt that.
Of course, I say this now that our days are finally warming up... :-)
HA! You can tell that Andrew is still stuck in Minnesota. Any Californian can tell you that we have four seasons. They're just more quiet & accompanied by different perfumes. Night blooming jasmine. Roses. Lavender. & the light, like you mention, E. The light changes with the delicacy of billowing lace. Just lovely...
Of course, I should probably admit I'm a Winter Wimp, too...
Andrew, I agree!
There is nothing like the absolute exhilaration of springtime after a long, long, long, long winter. I miss that (but not enough ;-) What I truly DO miss are the people.
I will love seeing you and Linda this June! Cafe Latte, here we come.... Love, Ellen
Brian, I love seeing the new blooms, too, but going from night blooming jasmine to roses is not the same as going from dead and brown to a sea of new life. Even you must remember how amazing those first few days of spring are. It's like the entire world is waking up from a deep slumber. I will be the last person on earth to say that he looks forward to winter, but even I stand in awe at a Minnesota spring.
Ellen, we miss you, too, and look forward to seeing you this summer. I'll do what I can to make sure that Mother Nature cooperates with lovely summer weather.
Love from everyone in the finally-unfrozen north.