A snow globe with heated streets

That's where I am - in a snow globe. For the past three days there has been an almost constant flake in the air. Call it a flurry or a tapering snow shower, it doesn't matter. Flakes in the air = real life snow globe. Pretty.

So, I think my street is heated. Yesterday, as I watched the snow globe's snow swirl, I noticed none of it was sticking to my road or my driveway. I figured the temperature was high enough and the ground was too warm. As evening set in I had to go on a beer run - friends coming over to watch the Steelers game - it was a necessity! As I turned off my street I found some snow on the road. At the next turn there was a good inch of snow on the road! Whoa. My journey continued, complete with a fishtail and some anti-lock break action. I laughed to myself, "Ha, I'm risking my life for a beer run and they probably won't even come."

Guess what?

They didn't come!

Why not?

The roads were bad!

Oh. They are much smarter than me. Though, to be fair - I didn't know the roads were bad until I was out of my neighborhood. Plus, I was committed to getting beer for my friends and the game. Plus, I am extremely, extremely stubborn. Now I have a fridge full of beer and the world is frozen so I can't leave the house, except to go on my heated street of course. What to do, what to do...

Well, the Steelers won, the beer can keep me warm, and I will see my friends again. As long as the flakes stay pretty I won't post any snow-hate posts, though have a feeling they will show-up eventually. I'm not sure about my street, but I know the street to snow-hate posts is not heated.

While it was flurrying

I missed snow. This type of snow. The type of snow that flurries and falls all day but doesn't hinder travel. It's just pretty. This type of snow didn't fall in Seattle. It's one thing to curl up with a cup of coffee while it's raining. Don't get me wrong. I love that. But with the rain comes gray and the world just gets darker and darker. With snow comes gray too but the world gets brighter and brighter as the grass and rooftops are covered with white.

Here are some happenings that occurred the past few days while it was flurrying.

1. My friend had a baby! 2 months early! She is very small and while I don't think she is in a "fighting for her life" situation, she could have used a few more weeks of baking.
2. I chickened out of the holiday parade when it started sleeting and snowing at the same time. It was cold and wet and wet and cold. No regrets.
3. I went shopping instead, looking for some towels for the guest bathroom to break up the blinding white of the walls and floor. (Can I just say it has been my adult dream to have a guest bedroom and bathroom? I am so excited. Yes, I am lame.)
4. I found some super nice towels at TJ Maxx that were super cheap. I realized they were better than the towels I use everyday. Suddenly, my guest bathroom looks an awful lot like my bathroom used to and my bathroom looks different...newer...fluffier. Don't worry, the guest bathroom is still nice. Jeez.
5. I re-framed two pictures of my mother as a child. Not pictures - art. One is her silhouette from about age 8 (I think) on a piece of card stock. The other is a sketch from when she was about 4. I thought I would keep the pictures and get around to re-framing them in 10 years. Look at me! Only took about 10 weeks!

Breaking up with the weather, that is a different story

My days of religiously following storms in off the Pacific are over. Or are they? I know I am supposed to be breaking up with my break-up and so far it is going well. I removed my Seattle related bookmarks from my computer and my life but not my Seattle related friends. Facebook posts and Twitter tweets from those left behind can suck me back into my Seattle world, particularly when those posts are almost unanimously about the weather.

It is snowing and icing and freezing in Seattle this week. Numerous friends had to abandon their buses and trek through the streets in work attire to get home. For some reason, and this I just do not get, people leave their cars and walk home. Leave their cars - on the side of the road, in the middle of the road, on the freeway, the off ramp, a side street. This morning I read the few plows the city has cannot get through because people left their cars in the middle of the road. Dude, these cars are probably Lexuses (Lexui?) or Audis or other nice, costly, pieces of machinery. How do you just leave them on the road and walk home? I don't get it.

Anyway, this is fascinating because it was just about two years ago that I was stranded in my house for almost two weeks as the city was rendered helpless by snow and ice. Other cities manage in far worse conditions; I don't understand how Seattle becomes so dramatically incapacitated in such a short period of time. It is, clearly, remarkable.

ANYWAY, point being - not my problem! It was 68 here yesterday and will be again today. I went for a hike. I drove with the windows down. The sun is still shining. It is taking me some time to get used to such bright, cheery weather. Admittedly, the weather affects my mood. If it were constantly gray and rainy (or snowy and freezing) I can say my overall affect would surely be much drearier. Following Seattle weather does make me a little home-sick but I am trying to focus on the overall theme of this post - sun = happy = better life for Eme Ashe. Here are some pictures of said life in the sunshine (though you can't tell it was sunny because we were in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Where were you?)

Thursday to Wednesday and Back Again

I could not keep today straight, (note that is different than I could not keep straight today. Heh.) I kept thinking it was Thursday, over and over. I would pull up my Thursday calendar, think about what is on TV on Thursday night, and then get excited for one more day of work until my week off.

Then I would remember it was actually Wednesday.

But then I would forget it was Wednesday and get all excited about Thursday again. It was weird. Maybe it was just wishful thinking for the weekend, or maybe I am really tired, or maybe I am losing my mind. I think any and all of the above are possible.

This week I decided to force myself to take walks during my lunch break. My body and mind feel better if I take a break, get some fresh air, and get exercise. Monday I was committed; nothing was going to stop me from taking walk. About 15 minutes before I was to set off, it started pouring. POURING. The rain did not sway me from my self-commitment and off I went. In jeans. With a cotton hat and scarf.

What happened? Well, seeing as I love the rain and love fresh air, I just kept walking. First, I walked all around my neighborhood, then I walked the 1/2 mile to Lake Louise, walked around, and headed home. As I climbed the hill to my street the rain started to take its toll. My scarf was soaked; I could wring the water out of it. My hat was drenched but thankfully kept my head dry. My jeans were wet and cold, the dampness creeping up my leg as I trudged along. It was in the mid-50s, and I was not far from home so I knew I would be fine. But I started thinking about how disappointed Bear Grylls would be in me. No jeans when walking in the cold and rain for an hour. No jeans.

Maybe I contracted a warm form of hypothermia that affected my memory or my ability to tell days of the week. No, that could not be the case because on Tuesday (which is apparently yesterday,) I did not take a walk. I learned my lesson from the day before. Tuesday was gray and rainy AND windy. I looked outside and thought, "Hmm...the last thing I need is to be pierced in the heart with a flying branch while I am soaking wet. I'll stay put." And I did, until today. Wednesday.

The Difference a Degree Makes

Degree: Master's in I/O Psychology
Difference: While working for a Non-Profit undergoing constant organizational change in a potential double-dip recession? Not much.

Degree: +1
Difference: Ahh. The heater set to 68 degrees in my house is nice and cozy but occasionally I get a chill. Now, push it up a degree, to 69, and it's like cozy, homey, holiday cookie, weekend bliss. Now, I have pretty good windows and insulation so when I turn the heat down or off my house holds its warmth fairly well. When it gets chilly, one degree makes all the difference.

Degree: -1
Difference: WTF?? A nice fall day at 50 degrees can abruptly turn to a freakin', freezing, wintry day when the mercury drops to 49. I'm fine waiting awhile until I hit age 40 and frankly, I'm not interested in seeing any degree that starts with 40 anytime soon. Too bad for me. Today the high was 49 degrees. I went outside, said, "BRR," very loudly, and promptly went back inside to get my coat.

See? A degree makes all the difference. Sometimes.

Week one been done

I made it! I made it through my first week on the east coast, my first real week in my new position, my first week living with my parents, my first week working from home. WHEW. It can only get easier from here right? I have no doubt that leaving Seattle was the right choice. No doubt it is good to have no doubt. The east coast heat feels good and the humidity is actually welcome! My first thunderstorm rolled through earlier this week, storming and pouring for more than two hours. It was amazing! This morning, my long awaited first Saturday, is rainy, quiet, and cool. Ah, perfect.

Here are some of the sights my iPhone camera captured from my first week. Keep in mind I didn't leave the house much...

This is not a very good picture but it is of something very good. When you haven't had your Mama's homemade cookies in a long time you may feel inclined to take a picture of one. You may also be inclined to eat several hundred in your first week back home. Good thing I got that treadmill set up already.

Mom made this salad for her lunch one day and it was so stinkin' pretty I declared it blog worthy before she was even done.

Setting up my temporary home office with Dad went very smoothly and here is the result. It actually feels like my office, like a work space. Many interviews will go well here and many will go bad, very, very bad.

I am a dork who takes pictures of storms. You can't see the rain so much; it is basically a picture of the back yard.

Ah, but in this one you can actually see the rain! My love of coffee, wine, and rain traveled across the country with me. They are welcome companions.

Weather baby

I haven’t mentioned the weather on here in days! I am so proud! I’ve talked about balloons and spiders and going crazy but nothing about the weather! I didn’t blog on Friday when it took me about an hour to figure out why the heat felt a little funny, (there was a touch of humidity!) There was certainly a lot I could have said about that. I didn’t blog on Saturday or Sunday to say how amazingly perfect the weather was. And Monday, wow, I didn’t say anything about how gray and downright cold it was or how I could have worn a turtleneck sweater and still been cold. That’s pretty good. I am very impressed with myself for not mentioning the weather on here anymore. Weather is such a good thing to talk about because we can all relate to it plus it dictates what we wear and often how we feel. But since I’m not talking about it on here anymore I guess I won’t mention how nice it is out today and how the whole week was perfect. Or how if the weather was like this all year round no one would ever leave. Or how perfect the weekend is going to be with sun, low humidity and highs in the 70s, blue sky and the water twinkling in the sunlight.

I have good news! I found out recently that one of my oldest friends is having a baby! (You know who you are.:)) I think it’s a girl and I think she will look like me. I can’t wait to meet her. (Or him, because if it is a him and in 20 years he is reading this blog on the 2030 version of microfiche I don’t want him to think I don’t love him because I said I couldn’t wait to meet “her.” Jeez!) Baby you-know-who-you-are is due in January. Hmm…I wonder what the weather will be like that day.

Not talking about the weather

In light of my possible decision to post all weather-related messages elsewhere, I am going to try to not mention the weather at all in this post. Except that I already did twice. Dang it! What does it mean that I only have comments related to weather? Is it that interesting? That forever worthy of my constant attention? That dominant in my life? Apparently.

Insert sound of crickets chirping here.

I’ve been thinking about my first trip across these great United States. The speeding ticket/pseudo drug bust in South Dakota was really the best story and I’ve already told it. I do recall passing through Timothy McVeigh’s hometown the day of his execution. We (J and I) bought a paper. It was big news. From there we headed west and the highlights were really the Corn Maize and Wall Drug. At that time we were both still naïve enough to think these may in fact be interesting sights to see along our drive. They weren’t. Though, I do give kudos to Wall Drug for their commitment to advertising and anticipation.

The traditional tourist spot we stopped at was Mt. Rushmore. I found the faces carved in the mountain much smaller in person than I expected, or I suppose they appeared much smaller than I expected. Fine, maybe I thought we would get a lot closer than we did. I wanted to be nose-to-nose. We drove through Wyoming where the interstate is red, like millions of bricks have been crushed, smoothed, and laid to rest. Wyoming is pretty and everything you would expect: hills, grass, hay, fences, farms, cowboys, and a lot of wide open spaces. Ok, I’m not sure I actually saw a cowboy but it wouldn’t have surprised me to see one just riding on by. Classic country western music played in my brain the whole time I was in the state.

From there we drove across the oversized, under populated state of Montana for what felt like 100 years. It’s big. The sight of the mountains kept us going as did the knowledge of being on the verge of saying, and meaning, “We are almost there!” Our last night was spent in the Idaho panhandle, near the “French place” I now know how to pronounce, Coeur d’Alene (core-da-lane.) Finally, we made a brief stop on I-90 to take in the beauty of central Washington and the Columbia River. And while I’m sure J wanted to throw me off the viewpoint into the river below after traveling together for such a long time, we simply took in the view, took a deep breath, and finished the final two hours of our journey.

The End.

PS: Ack, it’s going to be 90 degrees today! Whew, sorry, I held out as long as I could.

Eme Ashe Weather

So...........I'm thinking about creating a special "Eme Ashe Weather" blog. But then what would I talk about here?

Out with the new, in with the old

85 degrees or higher is coming to Seattle this week. Summer is finally going to make an appearance. I’ll call it an appearance until I know how long it intends to stay. It may soon be classified as a visit, we’ll have to wait and see. Legitimately hot weather in Seattle means one thing: get a fan and get one now. So I did.

Over the years I have monitored the weather diligently through various mediums, beginning with the television, then the internet, and now via iPhone. If a heatwave is coming I know about it, and yet so many times I have waited until it was too late to buy a fan. I would wait until sweat was trickling down my back when exerting zero energy or until I had spent more than one sleepless night staring at the ceiling cursing the heat. I’m not sure what we do with our fans in Seattle but it seems the heat surprises us and we can’t recall where we have stored our fans or who we loaned them to. We have to go by new fans just to get through those few days of heat.

See, in Seattle very few people have air conditioning. If you go back and read through my weather posts you’ll see why. It rarely is hot enough to use a fan, let alone an air conditioner. (For example, it’s July 4th and still overcast, 59 degrees, and probably on the verge of raining.) There are, of course, those few days or weeks that, while we welcome summer with open arms, tend to make us remember why we don’t live south or east of here. In Seattle, the sun shines high and bright for long days. Houses and apartments bake all day long until the air temperature inside is higher than the air temperature outside. Without a fan, this leads to a sauna-esque setting throughout the entire living space. The nights are short and don’t cool much so until the weather’s “fever breaks,” well, life isn’t much fun.

Last year we had record heat. 104 degrees. In the 90s or higher for a week straight. My house was literally, (and I’m using the word literally correctly here,) 100 degrees. I slept on the floor of my kitchen in front a fan with the door open. I worked late every night to remain in the air conditioning; I tried making an air conditioner out of ice, a Styrofoam cooler, and a fan. I tried to buy a fan, or ten, but every store was sold out. It was awful.

Yesterday I made a preemptive strike, finally. I walked the fan aisle of Fred Meyer considering my choices. There were tower fans, small tower fans, dual window fans, rotating fans, turbo fans, and even fans with rain sensors. They were tempting but I had tried them before. I needed a fan that would move as much air as possible with a reasonable about of noise, for a reasonable price. My choice was clear. I didn’t need a fancy, new, circular, rotating, turbo charged fan. I just needed an old, square fan that pumps air through the room like water from a fire hose. I bought a classic box fan for 20 bucks and I may just go buy another.

Come on heat wave, I am ready for you this time! And fan, you and your soon-to-be-adopted brother are coming with me to Asheville!

Photos Speak Louder Than Words

I wanted to take a minute to illustrate the significance of weather in Seattle. (I rarely tire of weather talk. I warned you.) Last weekend was GORGEOUS, in fact it was so beautiful that I took this photo from my deck just to capture the moment.

This weekend is disgusting. DISGUSTING. It is June 20th, almost the summer solstice, and it is 56 degrees and raining. Not to capture the moment, rather for comparison's sake, I snapped this photo. No, this is not a black and white photo. No, this is not a photo of Seattle from long ago. This is a photo taken from the very same spot of the very same view as 7 days ago.


You see, this is why people in Seattle mention the weather so often, especially during a year like this, when we have October weather in June, (more accurately, October through June). When the weather is nice and the sun makes an appearance this is the prettiest place on earth. It is the Emerald City - it is shiny and new and magical and breathtaking. The weather of today is just a sad reminder of what was and what isn't. Literally, the city is covered and we can do nothing but sit and wait for its beauty to be unveiled.

Today, I feel like Seattle is stuck in time. The rest of the country is moving forward, through the seasons, into summer. School is out, picnics are happening, children are playing. Here, I am laying in bed until 10am simply because it is dark, gray, and cold. I don't want to get out of my cozy covers; I don't want to go outside.

I love the rain. I love this weather. But not ALL THE TIME. Even my melancholy, romanticized, drink-coffee-watch-the-rain-fall-in-love-write-a-poem psyche can't take this.

No Reactions, Just Weather

I know what you're feeling right now. You want to react to this post, and all of my posts and everything I've ever said, but your only option is to verbally share with your computer how you feel. Or write a comment. You're frustrated and a little confused.

What happened to the reaction boxes? Did I change my mind again? Yes, yes I did. This blog, like my life, is a work in progress that is constantly subject to change. I decided I didn't like them, those pesky reaction boxes. I didn't like the feeling of wondering how people felt about my posts. I didn't like the feeling of thinking, "no reaction? really? 'cause that was funny." That is not what this blog is about so I have removed them. I am, however, looking forward to reading and writing comments. I promise never to take the comment boxes away. After all, you can have a voice on this blog too, if you want.

Have I mentioned the weather recently? No? Oh. Well, that is because it is still gray and rainy and cold. Still. Speaking of the weather, Komo4's weather blog had a post yesterday that I had to watch. I even broke the "no streaming video" rule at work to watch it. The Climate Prediction Center (or something like that) has issued a "La Nina" watch starting this month. Meaning we can expect cooler than normal temperatures and will probably have a very cold and wet winter. I am feeling two things after having read this. 1) Wow, this summer is really not going to happen. It is going to go from Seattle's current 9 month season of constant Finter back to Finter. 2) I am looking forward to Ashvegas where I may complain about the heat and humidity occasionally (ok, for about 3 months straight I'm sure,) but at least I will actually experience true season change again.

That's right, I'm going to just post and post about the weather and you can't even click the "boring" box 25 times!

Weathering the Weather (Posts, Tweets, and Comments)

Let’s just get something out of the way; I love weather. I love to watch the weather, I love to guess the weather, and I love to complain about the weather. I love weather. If you have read my “Who’s That Girl?” page you already knew that. However, I think this weather thing requires a special mention. My boss calls me ‘weather girl;’ I might have a problem.

Over the course of this blog, I will make many posts, tweets, and comments related to weather. I just will, I can't help it, it's what I do. It might get tiresome to the reader; it might get redundant. But it’s my voice on this thing so far and my voice tends to be weather focused at times. If it’s too much, just drop me a note. If it’s entertaining, well that’s ok to comment about too. If it’s scientifically or otherwise fascinating, email me about starting a weather fan club. I might be interested.

So, what is it about the weather? I think it goes back to my tortured middle school days where I learned to write poetry and got kind of good at it after awhile. I thought so at the time at least. There is something about using poetry to express oneself; and there is something about writing poetry while watching the rain, snow, or a storm. These days, I tend to curl up with a cup of coffee, and a journal or my iBook G4, and write the day away; though I rarely write a poem anymore. (In case you couldn't guess, it's raining in Seattle as I type this.)

When people ask me what brought me to Seattle, my first answer is always, “the rain.” It’s true. I have loved the rain since I was about 12 years old. Seattle was always associated with the rain so my curiosity grew. When I moved here, I got hooked on the weather blog at KOMO4 . I know I complain about the rain but the truth is, I love these cool, rainy days with low humidity that we have. Going back east is going to be quite the adjustment. You know, with the high dew point and all (right Dad?) Besides, come on, thunderstorms are cool.

On a serious note, my condolences to the man who just lost his fiancé earlier this week by a lightning strike near Asheville. This is a tragic story and a sad reminder of the power of weather. See below.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) - Richard Butler wanted his girlfriend to think they were just taking a scenic hike in the North Carolina mountains, but he had a secret plan. When they got to the top, he planned to pull out a ring and ask her to be his bride.

Lightning struck three times as the Knoxville, Tenn., couple were on Max Patch Bald, near Asheville. The third hit Butler, 30, and his girlfriend, Bethany Lott, 25, killing her on Friday, he told the Asheville Citizen Times. He suffered third degree burns.

"She didn't say anything, and I turned around and she was laying a few feet away, and I crawled to her," he told the newspaper on Monday. "I did CPR for probably 15 minutes and the whole time was trying her cell phone, but I couldn't get anything out."

He described the lightning strike.

"I was spun 180 degrees and thrown several feet back," he told the newspaper. "My legs turned to Jello, my shoes were smoking and the bottom of my feet felt like they were on fire."

His mother, Janet Delaney, said her future daughter-in-law loved the mountains.

"She hiked thousands of miles and spent a couple of years in Utah just hiking," Delaney, also of Knoxville, told The Associated Press.

She and her son are mourning instead of celebrating the joy the engagement would have brought.

"The first couple of times I met her, I felt she was my own daughter," Delaney said. "She made my life complete and my son's life complete."

Heavy rain let up as the two walked toward the bald, but more bad weather returned including the lightning, Butler said.

"Her last words were, 'Look at how beautiful it is,"' Delaney said.

Butler turned around to see his fiancee lying on the hill.

Unable to carry her down the hill, Butler drove to the first home he found. A father and his son, who was home on leave from the Navy, jumped in Butler's truck and raced back to the bald.

"They stood on the top of the hill doing what they could for probably 20 minutes until the rescuers got there," Butler said.

After rescuers arrived, they tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate Lott. Services for her will be this week in New Tazewell, Tenn.

Butler suffered third-degree burns, but Delaney said he hasn't been to a doctor despite her urging him to go. She said his emotions seem to be in good shape.

"He's holding up better than I thought he would," Delaney said tearfully, adding, "He's going to try to go on."
--
Associated Press Writer Joe Edwards in Nashville, Tenn., contributed to this report.