Four Seasons

England is not exactly known for it's sunshine. Really when you think about England you think Fog and Rain. Despite our protestations this is for the large part true. My school flooded as a child, my college town disappeared from view on misty days and the discovery of my Land's End rain boots was one of the high points of my wet existence.

The expression over here is that if you don't like the weather in Maine then just wait a minute and it will change. These foolhardy people have never experienced a warm winter's day in England.

I used to love visiting Husby in the summer because sunny days were mostly an everyday occurrence. Yes I am fair skinned and shrink at most sunny days but having the option of wearing a sun dress with my spf5000 is a wonderful thing. Then I visited in the fall and my goodness the colour in this land - pinks and oranges, reds and greens! Gone was the monotone Autumn I was accustomed to; from Green to Orange to Brown in a matter of weeks. Of course there was the time I visited over New Years and we got snowed in and my plane was delayed (ironically the delay was caused by snow in London - we actually managed to plow our way down to Logan airport in Boston only to be turned around again). Still - SNOW - actual SNOW in the wintertime. We hadn't had snow in my home town since about 1986 - at least nothing worth wearing boots for!

My love affair with the great state of Maine goes far deeper than a love of Buttery Lobster or the Pride's Corner Drive In. To live in a place that actually has four distinct seasons. Where when the weathermen say it is going to be a "seasonable" day today it actually means something. To have tote boxes (now floating in the basement) full of Clothes that I cannot wear this season because it's too cold/hot/wet. To experience Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring.

But alas all love affairs have their down sides. Brad has to suffer through Ms Jolie's ego, the Henrickson wives have to contend with, well, each other and I have to accept that sometimes even Maine experiences four seasons in one week. So last week when my basement flooded the day after I had walked in merely a T-shirt to the park with a hat-less 6 month old, how was I to know that within days I would be walking in the mud while scraping the ice off my car.

So out come the T-shirts and lightweight jackets but I'm keeping my sweaters and rain boots too! For shame New England, for shame!