Re: [pf] Musings on the equinox

At 14:16 23/09/99 -0500, you wrote:
>It's fall in Oklahoma, .. Isn't it amazing how cold 68 feels in 
>September and how warm it feels in March?
>
>David in NZ: You can satisfy my curiosity.  When I, a Northern
>Hemisphere resident, think of the word "January," I think of snow, cold,
>wind and wet.  The word "Christmas" brings images of carollers in
>scarves, caps and mittens; steaming cups of apple cider; and kids using
>their new sleds on Christmas Day.
>
>Does a southern Hemisphere resident get different images in mind when
>he/she thinks of those words (perhaps a hot, sweaty day at the beach)?
>

**  Thanks, Diane; yes, I'm having a great day. 
The rate at which the sun moves towards the Southern Hemisphere is highest
about now, so there's a very noticeable 'earlying' of dawn and sunrise.
This morning I commented to my wife that I had been able to open the
living-room curtains before she left for the first bus of the day (6:30 AM)
for the first time this season. Even in contrast to the beginning of the
week. We keep them closed on winter mornings since pedestrians' eyes would
be drawn to our lighted windows, but it's now light enough outside that
they wouldn't be looking in.

**  I'm also having a great day because it's spring and our son is looking
for 'projects' to do around the house. This is ostensibly because (i) his
sister's returning in a few weeks from her year in China (with a break in
Switzerland) and he wants her not to be off-put by the untidy state of the
house she 'may be condemned to live in' for at least weeks and maybe
months; she had started some ceiling-cleaning before she left, and (ii) he
would like to feel that if/when his friends come in, they too will not be
shocked, and may even want to come back. I've been helping him when he
asks, but leaving the main job to him so the achievement is his.
**  He's very like me in being happy doing nothing, but unlike me he
doesn't have a lifetime of hard, interesting work to 'justify' the
indolence, to himself. So the combination of (a) 'getting something done'
and (b) 'doing only what you are happy doing' is _good_ to see.

David
(David MacClement) d1v9d @ bigfoot.com (remove spaces)
http://www.emucities.com.au/member/davd/index.html#top
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