Sweatshirt weather
Today is the first sweatshirt day we've had since early last spring and I love it. Oh, yes, we had a couple of mornings in the upper 60's in September but that's the standard tease early in the fall. It does not mean that we have broken the back of summer, as some of the weathermen suggest on TV. It does not mean that we won't have temperatures in the 90's again in a day or two. And it is not sweatshirt weather when you know it will be at least in the 80's later in the day. Today is sweatshirt weather. I woke up to temperatures in the 50's with a nice brisk breeze and it is not expected to get out of the 60's today even in the "heat" of the afternoon. Yea for fall!!
This does not mean that we won't have warm weather again soon. I laughed last night listening to the news. The tag line for the weather was something about putting your shorts and t-shits away because of the cool push of air from Canada. Well, no. We will need our shorts and t-shirts again by the end of this week when it's supposed to be back up in the upper 80's. You would think our local weather people would have a better grasp of the weather in this part of the world. Putting your shorts and t-shirts away after the first cold morning may seem reasonable in Montana or Chicago or even in the panhandle of Texas but certainly not here. We may still have the air conditioning going on Christmas like we do so many years.
I love sweatshirts. In particular I love blue jeans and wool socks and sweatshirts. It's by far my favorite attire for going to the beach. Or going to the mountains. Or going pretty much anywhere. It does mean that I must limit my beach visits to the winter but that's fine with me. I don't get nearly as much blue jean wool socks sweatshirt weather as I would like but I'm sure happy with it when it arrives.
The animals are all happy with the cooler weather. The ponies are frisky, the goats are playful and the llamas and alpacas seem relaxed and not at all worried about where they will keep cool later in the day. It's overcast so there is no need to look for shade.
We went with our kids and grandkids to the zoo yesterday morning. My son and his wife are members of the zoo which means on the first Saturday of each month they can bring a group of up to 10 people and get through the gates two hours before the zoo opens to the general public. We arrived at 8 am and got to wander around and look at the animals in relative peace with no crowds pushing us. It was great. It was also warm - not hot but definitely warm and humid but more or less comfortable. Both grandkids arrived slightly bundled up and shed clothing throughout the morning. This morning would have been a different story. More bundled up in the beginning and a whole lot more bundled in the end.
This weather also signals my need to knit something in wool. Given that we have so few wool-wearing days, it might make more sense to crank up the AC and knit wool during the summer so the scarf or shawl or sweater or mittens would be all ready to go when the temperature dips down into the wool wearing range. Occasionally that does happen but today is the day that knitting wool just seems right.