OK, so it's not Paradise...but on days like this it certainly feels like Paradise lies just past the next exit

Here it is the middle of May, and here in the Pacific Northwest we're finally getting a taste of something resembling summer. Laugh all you want, 'cuz I know the rest of the country has been enjoying shirt-sleeve weather. Unfortunately, the Pacific Northwest is where winter goes to die...and it all too often dies a very slow death here. Just a few days ago, temperatures were still in the 40s and I was still wearing that North Face rain shell I bought for that sort of weather. Yesterday, though, the skies cleared and the high actually climbed over 70. Today's high is supposed to be around 85 and tomorrow's around 95. Still, after weeks upon weeks of leaky, leaden skies, a few days of the other end of the spectrum represents a welcome change. So much for a gradual transition.

In most other parts of the country, warm weather would merely be something that could reasonably expected to be will-established by now. Here, though, the reaction I've been seeing is sort of like watching a city come out from under a rock. After work, I walked about 10 miles (absent the Houston humidity leaving me feeling something akin to death warmed over)...and damned if there weren't a whole lot of attractive young women out running in tights. Get thee behind me, Satan....

It's days like this that truly reinforce how little I miss (or even really think about) Houston any more. If you can get past the heat, the humidity, the mosquitoes, the copperheads, the water moccasins, Pasadena, Deer Park, Laporte, Baytown, the traffic, and the (&^%$#@ ants... yeah, it's just this side of Paradise, ain't it?? OK, so we're still running a deficit in the sunshine department; I still hate (and no, I don't miss) Houston.