Moving to a new climate has me completely thrown off my game as an authority to all kid questions nature related. At the park last month a rowdy eight year old told my five year old that green frogs were ok to catch but never ever touch a blue one. When she asked me why instead of having the knowledge I grew up with I had to answer with a studious “We’ll have to look it up when we get home.”
My lack of expertise is compounded by my complete bewilderment of what autumn or winter is, or for that matter is not, in Texas.
I not sure when to unpack the giant plastic tub of sweaters and leg warmers, and I have no idea if and when the trees on our street will turn any color besides green. It’s unnerving to live in a landscape of unknowns not only because I may miss the opportunity to get my favorite leather boots and turtle neck out, but because our closets depend on one season ending and the next season beginning. We simply can’t afford a house with enough closet space to keep shorts and sweaters in rotation. Something must get put away and it’s not obvious to me yet when I should do that.
While I have yet to see many leaves turn and I’ll not see a corn harvest this year, what I have noticed outside is the sudden abundance of people and kids. I’m learning autumn marks the beginning of outdoor activity not involving bikinis, instead of the hibernation it signifies up North. My kid asked for sidewalk chalk since the cooling down, and while she was drawing on the patio met the kids next door we missed all summer long. We enjoyed the school fun fair, the Renaissance Festival, the air show and the balloon rally in the last few weeks and have been meeting more neighbors, some who are already wearing the turtle necks and cool leather boots.
I’m sure locals tire of hearing us northern transplants express our wonderment at the differences in weather but it really is quite the adjustment for us. I am ready to see my breath while I scrape the frost off car windows in these November mornings. I have an assortment of winter reading lined up that I am dismayed I may never get to. While I count the day I gave our snow suits away to Goodwill as one of the happiest in my life and I don’t think I’ll miss the stoic icy days we needed them, I’m still wondering what December through March has in store for us. In the mean time I’m looking forward to Christmas in Kemah, November 20th to 22nd, I want to see how they make snow at “Blizzard by the Bay.”