Sunday 21 March 2010

10 reasons you know it's Spring on Long Island

1. You go for a walk and notice that one of your children is wearing last year's crocs and the other snowboots. You realise it might be time to visit the shoe shop....

2. The weather is varying wildly; from 4 degrees and raining one weekend, to 21 degrees and brilliant sunshine the next. A few weeks ago you were sledgng; now your children are playing outside with hoses.

3. Suddenly the garden bursts into life and you begin worrying about things like poison ivy again....meanwhile the ubiquitous gangs of gardeners (or 'landscapers' as they are known here) reappear after vanishing over the winter. (Did they fly south?)

4. I can actually sit out on my porch and read the paper. It's warm enough, and the mosquitoes haven't reappeared. Yet. Although a friend swears she's seen one...

5. Your husband is saying you need a new barbecue as a matter of urgency; so you spend half of the warmest Saturday of the year perusing the local branches of Wal-Mart and Target for a mysterious hybrid model that is said to combine both gas and charcoal.

6. You visit a local playground and it is busier than you have EVER seen it, even in the height of summer. Mothers you haven't seen since September suddenly emerge, and confess that they have been 'hibernating'.

7. The queue for the ice cream van at said playground is half a mile long and everyone is enthusiastically ordering lollies for their kids. A bit different from summer, when most mothers are cursing the van and the frequency of its visits to the park.

8. Rather random Easter decorations appear on houses and in shop windows. The local pharmacy appears to have Easter eggs dangling from tinsel Christmas trees. Well, there's nothing like reuse and recyle!

9. Winter being seemingly over, you start to wash and put away the ski clothes. Your husband transfers the snow shovels from outside the front door to the shed....

10. ....You look at the weather forecast for next weekend - and notice that it is probably going to snow again.

11 comments:

Dorset Dispatches said...

It's just like that here, especially the bit about having to visit the shoe shop (did you read my mind on that one, we had the crocs / snowboot combo the other day too) and the wildly varying temperatures. Now, as long as winter stays gone and doesn't come back for one last hoorah...

Mwa said...

We've all taken out our summer coats. Lovely feeling!

Potty Mummy said...

21 deg? Oh, I am SO not talking to you... (yes, it is above freezing here, but +6 doesn't really compare, does it?)

Jen Walshaw said...

Oh we have just had to get the boys new crocs!!

It was lovely yesterday, buy we have rain now.

Oh and the icecream van starting its outings here yesterday, the boys think if it is playing a tune he has run out - bad mummy

Nota Bene said...

You got me on No. 10

Dumdad said...

Yes, beware No. 10. But we SO want it to be Spring with summer hard on its heels...

Expat mum said...

I made the mistake of moving the snow shovel from the front door to the back, given that it was over 60 farenheit on Friday. Didn't it just snow all weekend. Pah!

A Confused Take That Fan said...

Sounds fantastic! Yeah, agree with Potty Mummy, stop showing off with your 21 degrees!! ;o) We may get that for one day in July...

Muddling Along said...

I'm glad it's not just the UK that is having these false starts to Spring. It was so nice at the weekend I considered planting my potatoes only to be very glad not to have when greeted by a frost and fog this morning

Still I've ditched the thick winter coat for my thinner spring one (but am keeping my gloves in my bag)

Iota said...

It keeps you on the hop, this weather, doesn't it? The full annual range is just so much smaller in the UK, so the variations from day to day are bound to be a lot smaller too. It takes a bit of getting used to.

nappy valley girl said...

Brit in Bosnia - of course we bought sandals, and now they are desperate to wear them all the time, even when it's raining.....

Mwa - 'summer coats' says it all really, doesn't it. In real, hot summer, you presumably wouldn't need one....

PM - don't worry; the temperature is rapidly dropping - it's only 8 at present...

The Madhouse - I got away for years with being vague about what the ice cream van was. But they know now. Damn.

NB - Oh, good..

Dumdad - I totally agree. I'm fed up of my winter coat now....

Expat Mum - it's just tempting fate, really isn't it.....

CTTF - It's actually the perfect temperature when it's like that. Because (and promise I am not showing off) I don't really like it too hot...

Muddling Along - I'm still wearing my gloves to drive to preschool in the mornings....

Iota - it's just so much more extreme, really. A bit like their politics!