We came to the Appalachian foothills to escape Florida’s heat and humidity. We also tried living up North on Lake Erie and came here to escape the freezing cold and snow storms. And now we are being punished for our escapist lack of loyalty, with freezing weather in the middle of October.
I was not very happy, not content, and asked myself if we should pack up and return to Florida. We decided to postpone that decision and brought in our lemon tree instead. After nursing that baby for three years it is at last bearing fruit. To be exact, tree fruits. Three walnut-sized lemons are struggling to survive. I promised the tree I would take it to Florida if its lemons could not reach the juicing stage of lemonhood.
One of my three lemons clamoring for a move to Florida.
To alleviate our own suffering a little, we lit a fire in our semi-dormant chimenea on our deck. We sat there, freezing first and then blistering in the heat produced by a couple of old logs. It’s either one or the other. It must be climate change.
Seeking some warmth on our deck
There seems to be no end to storms, floods, droughts, tornadoes, forest fires, tsunamis, earthquakes, unseasonal weather extremes, wars, inflation, price gouging, unfair elections, politicians, rabies and now we have illegal immigrants, artificial intelligence and ever more advertising. I have to admit it’s getting to me slowly, particularly the endless advertising on my phone for stuff I don’t want, need, or even know existed. I’m trying to check the weather and am confronted with a very good deal on an extra large pack of adult diapers, followed by a special offer on an enormous toolbox on wheels, for the price of a perfectly good, new, used car. And as for the adult diapers, I’d rather just go change my underwear.
If you are a young retiree and are considering moving to greener pastures, a better climate, or a part of the country or world where there is no advertising, you have run out of luck. There is no such place, so you might just as well stay where you are. Try to be content, happy and fulfilled, and as to the illegal immigrants, don’t worry about them, they won’t be moving in with you, and besides that, who would do all the heavy lifting, and fruit picking if it were not for all those young people who insist on coming to live the good life here in the U S of A?
Fruit-picking aliens (Patko, Picking Fruits – Oil on canvas)
I was one of them, nearly forty-five years ago. Never illegal, but immigrant alien all the same. My wife and I never had to pick fruit, but did some heavy lifting in our time. We taught school, we started small businesses, we struggled and flourished. At times we felt homesick and longed for the places and the people we had left behind, but now we are settled and at home in the Appalachian foothills.
That does not mean I have given up my right to feel discontent, particularly when the weather is not according to my liking. From now on I want the temperature to be between 50 and 90 degrees, and the rainfall between 2 and 6 inches per month. Other than a mild little thunderstorm, we will not tolerate abnormal weather of any type and if my demands can not be met, we will move.
Don’t ask me where. I’ll let you know if I can.
Also check out my previous post at https://ups-and-downs-of-old-age.com/can-you-benefit-from-a-good-brainwash/
3 responses to “Is This the Winter of Our Discontent?”
You are so right. Every time that this discontent feeling creeps up, we look around at our beautiful place. The trees, the birds. A red Cardinal eating the seeds in our feeder , making a mess on the deck for the squirrels to clean up, and we immediately start feeling content.
[…] Please check out my previous post at: https://ups-and-downs-of-old-age.com/is-this-the-winter-of-our-discontent/ […]
I am thankful you guys live here. The one thing we can count is change in life – the weather up here certainly does that often. We live in our own little biome.