We’ve had a lot of ups and downs lately, weather-wise. Nothing quite as severe as earlier this Spring (which makes me think we’re due for something nasty soon), but a lot more leaping between the mid-70s and the 30s. So far, I’ve managed to avoid getting incredibly sick as a result of a temperature leap like that, but I’ve had a few close calls and only a bounty of rest and some extra days off have been able to keep a full-blown illness at bay. I’ve had two close calls, where I felt it coming on, but I was able to sleep both of them off. While my apartment was cold as hell, too, since each time arrived on the tail-end of a temperature peak, as it dwindled to its valley, which meant I got that good “mountain of blankets” sleep. In theory, anyway. I’m so tired and worn out that I genuinely can no longer tell when I feel this way because of tiredness versus when I feel this way from being worn down. And while the generally cooler weather we’ve been having is helping with that, I do wish it would settle one way or another so I could commit to a season and no longer have such achey joints every day or two, as the pressure rises and falls in front of whatever severe weather we get. Which has had a larger variety of late than the nigh-constant storms of a few weeks ago. Fire watch, severe gusts, pollution, and so one. Lots of the uncommon stuff on top of a pretty hefty looking storm currently slated to arrive early next week (though we’ll see if it ever shows up, given how rapidly things appear to change anywhere I can find a weather forecast these days).

Thankfully, it does seem to be slowly trending in a “getting warmer” direction. I’ve now gotten in the bad habit of wearing my sweatshirt to work in the morning and then forgetting it on the hook in my office because it’s cold in the mornings and too warm for a sweatshirt in the afternoons and evenings (it also doesn’t help that I’ve doubled my recent walk length and my labors at work are more sweat-inducing than they were even just a few weeks ago, so I rarely want additional warmth at the end of my day). I don’t typically still need a sweatshirt in the morning during mid-May, but I’m try to appreciate it and not think that hard about the implications considering that we didn’t really get weather like this for quite a while during actual Spring and anything that potentially delays the onset of what’s probably going to be a sweltering summer is okay in my book. Well, mostly okay. I don’t much care for the constant risk of freezing I’m living with these days, since it keeps dropping into the 30s every few nights, but I like that more than I like turning on my AC just to counteract the day’s heat since there’s not enough of a cross breeze to blow it out of my apartment.

I really hope this gentle transition from Spring to Summer continues. I can’t remember the last time we had something like this. We’ve basically skipped Spring entirely more often in the last decade than we’ve had a normal Spring-to-Summer transition period. And while this one certainly wasn’t normal, we can still pretend it is now so long as we don’t look too closely at the trees. A lot of them are struggling thanks to the sporadic Very Warm days we’ve had scattered about since the end of January. Then we even had a bit of a warming period where the trees started to wake up followed almost immediately by summer heat and then the tail-end of winter getting another blow in days later just last month. Right now, while many of the trees are budding (most of them a bit late into the season), almost all of them have a lot of dried up, wiltered, or generally discolored blossoms. Turns out trees aren’t great at dealing with weird temperature fluctuations and while they might not get laid up with a headcold like I do sometimes, they definitely seem more sick than I’ve felt all year so far.

On one hand, I definitely don’t miss all the pollen. On the other hand, I miss all the wildflowers that are usually blooming by now. My walks have been incredibly sparse on flowers thanks to how long it took to get consistent, steady warmth, and while I always appreciate being able to breathe clearly, I do miss the visual stimulation of local wildflowers in the park I walk through most days. At least I’m not getting rained on or blown over. And an old guy told me he liked my hair as it was blowing out behind me the other day, all waist-length of it. Plenty to enjoy about the recent weather. I just wish I had a window I could open at work to enjoy the cool wind and fresh, mostly-pollen-free air while it lasts, even if it’s a sign of a very fucked up summer we’re about to have, as if all the troubles farmers are facing due to Trump’s ecomonics aren’t enough of a hassle and prompt for potential food shortages or massive price increases. Truly a thorn on every rose these days…