the warming

December 16, 2015

It is the middle of December. I just stepped out of the house to snap a picture of the forsythia. It’s blooming.

The weather is balmy and gorgeous, but I feel anxious. It feels ominous, this upset-the-fruit basket weather. Our wood stove sits, stone cold and dark. Our winter coats hang uselessly on their hooks. Flies swarm the kitchen.

Even with a brisk breeze, the air feels stifling, claustrophobic. I keep having the thought—a daytime nightmare, really—that I am trapped inside a house that’s locked tight and the temperature is rising, except in this case it’s the whole world that’s heating up. We’re trapped in our atmosphere with nowhere to go.

Perhaps I’m being melodramatic. That’s always a possibility. On the other hand, there’s climate change and El Niño, so something is going on, right? Whatever it is, it makes me feel slightly panicked. Which is too bad because then I can’t enjoy this lovely springtime December weather.

This same time, years previous: the quotidian (12.15.14), crazier than usual, gingerbread men, and a smashed finger.

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3 Comments

  • Margo

    December 18, 2015 at 11:18 am Reply

    I don't like this weather, either – it's creepy. Global warming came up as a topic of supper conversation recently because of the weather, and now G is freaked out. Whoops.

  • Becky

    December 16, 2015 at 1:35 pm Reply

    On one hand, yes, it seems something is afoot. One of my canning buddies told me how October was the warmest month on record as part of our ongoing conversation on how the weather affects the harvest (and our canning).
    On the other hand, I remember Christmas 1982 as being unseasonably warm – so much so, I looked it up the other day. It was also an El Nino year and indeed, it was record setting warm. I also remember a huge snowstorm the following February, complete with snow thunder and several feet of snow that shut schools down for close to a week!

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