Beset by the rain and grey

The biggest shock of returning to the Pacific Northwest has been the weather. I actually have to look outside and even (gasp!) open a window to see how cold it might be. It never struck me as something to do until I didn't have to do it anymore. It's impossibly easy to live with 85-90 degree days that have 12 hours of sunshine every. single. day. A dress and sandals--boom, you're out the door. When nostalgia for wooly sweaters or leggings with cute boots hit, the sub-arctic temperatures of the movie theater was a  trusty jeans-and-cardigan cure.

I had reached a grumbling truce with Pacific Northwest Summer as she gently cradled Portland long into October. She allowed us a late camping trip into the wilds of Central Oregon was hot and dry and sweaty and sunny and I loved every second.



But hell -- it's been 50 and rainy and dark for 2 weeks and I'm wondering where I can install a sauna in our little apartment. Is Summer having the last laugh now? Did she seduce Autumn into taking a year off, so now we're stuck with just winter? I have to wear my winter hat to the gym in the morning! No one else seems to be complaining, so is this just how it is in Portland? How did I not notice this before?! Did I not think that a whole box of sweaters was a strange thing to put in storage before we left for Malaysia? The thought of having to swathe myself in those piles of yarn until July rolls around again fills me with borderline-hysteric dread. Just breathe, Denise, breathe. It will be OK...July is only 246 days away.

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