It Wants to be Spring Here

 

La Fontaine Saint-Sulpice, flowing in the 6th Arr.

The fountains are flowing around town. Flowers are popping in the parks and the trees are starting to blossom. I saw four newly hatched ducklings at lÎle aux Cygnes today. Most of the mess from the garbage strike is gone.

Lichen is not a sign of spring--but it makes a nice photo. 

It wants to be spring here. But it ain't. This morning it was 1 degree celsius (34 F), and has gotten almost that cold overnight a few times in the last week. Just can't shake the need for wool coats, gloves, and scarves.

People who transplant to the bay area usually love the mild weather, but seem compelled to say "but I miss the changing of the seasons." Having lived on the east coast of the U.S. and now in central Europe, I can tell you on good authority that seasons suck. People who like the changing seasons are experiencing cognitive dissonance: how else can they tolerate a place with five months of icy winter and four months of armpit summer without convincing themselves how much they love the transition to the few weeks of spring warmth and fall color?

We had some friends who moved to Oakland (The Hub of the West) from the eastern seaboard. If you live back east, you know to neglect any work or chores when it's nice on a weekend, because good weather and time-off coincide so rarely. After their first year in Oakland, they were completely exhausted from running themselves ragged hiking, skiing, going to lakes and wineries and basically living a normal life every nice weekend--which is to say, every weekend. Granted, this was before climate change really made itself felt in the last few years, when the bay area's "seasons" were "green hills" and "brown hills." Now I guess the bay area has added "smoke season" and "atmospheric river season."

After they had kids, our friends moved back east to be nearer to their families. I wonder how they feel about the changing seasons now.