All of this global warming (i.e., a typically hot North Carolina summer) means that the garden area that now inhabits what was originally a pine straw wasteland along the northern and eastern perimeter of our property needs to be hose-watered from time to time, since our sprinkler system pretty much just covers the grass. Mrs. Paco is up to the challenge (as well as up to her hips in black-eyed Susans).
I find that I have once again become acclimated to hot weather, as was the case when we lived in Miami. Of course, since I enjoy the heat, this could be, as I am fond of saying, an ominous portent of my ultimate destination. We shall see. Meanwhile, we're simply enjoying the flowers and strawberries and blueberries, and hoping for a decent crop of green beans and sweet potatoes.
I spent nearly all my young life in warm climes. Southern Cal, Guam, Hawaii... and in my professional life I went to the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf a lot. A lot.
ReplyDeleteBut I've also lived in more temperate areas, such as now. I do enjoy the changes of the seasons, even when winter has dumped a foot or two of snow on me. I like knowing that there's always change coming.
I used to swear up and down when I transferred to the University of Miami and had been there for about a year that I could never live in a climate that didn't have significant seasonal changes. But I gradually came to prefer the tropics (and later, the desert). It doesn't really matter, I guess, as long as one has a place to come in from the heat (or the cold).
ReplyDeleteI was born and raised in Texas (and in the beginning, there was no air conditioning except what you got from electric fans and hand fans). Later, after I married, we lived in a variety of climes, hot and cold. As I am now alone and advancing in old age, I find I prefer winter to summer, because I can bundle up in sweaters and afghans and mostly don't have to go outside if I don't want to. Also, watching snow fall at a well-insulated window with a cup of hot chocolate is about the most peaceful thing I can think of.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, I love Mrs. P's Black-eyed susans.
ReplyDeleteThey sure do like to spread out! Which is good, because they help cover what was once a very barren area.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lovely picture of Mrs. Paco amid the abundance of black-eyed Susan's. Wish we could have such a yard. Ours is over grown with all manner of native grasses and weeds because we haven't found anyone to cut it. You get more rain than we do too. Triple digit temperatures don't help.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! May you have bumper crops!