Filed under: Politics
Winter here is sporadic. Because of the hills, it’s a mess when it snows or freezes. Seattle is famously the “city of seven hills.” Days like this past week when we had hail storms and freezes, it was a mess. Because we so seldom have significant snow, it’s hard to know ahead what the, road and highway situation will be.
You can’t really plan ahead very much, but just wait and see. If you live on one of the many hills, you pay for your good view with undependable access and exit. My main East-West street is down at the bottom of my hill, so I can tell by the traffic flow what the road situation is all over. You get used to the climate where you live, but the United States is a big country with lots of different climates. Some people live where there are earthquakes, other live with tornadoes or hurricanes! If you don’t have any of the three, consider yourselves lucky!
If you are thinking of moving, check on the weather records to see what the worst might be. When I first married, l ived in an apartment in San Francisco, and promptly had my first encounter with an earthquake when all my brand new dishes started cascading out of the cupboards! Got used to earthquakes, and my cupboards became better prepared, but it was scary for a first-time participant.
The traffic at the bottom of the hill is moving smoothly, and no sirens to indicate trouble anywhere else. There are sporadic small patches of blue in a mostly white sky. My next-door neighbor’s house has a mostly white (with hailstones) roof, so I imagine mine probably looks the same. The kitchen skylight is not clear. And of course my experience with the climate is different from everybody who does not live on an east-facing lot on the side of a hill. I cannot imagine living where you get brief notice that a tornado is heading for your house, or learning that your beautiful view of the ocean is about to turn your house upside down. Fortunately we are an adaptable species and capable of learning about self-protection.
Just outside my second-story window are the bare branches of a vine maple. What I had assumed at first was a bird sitting there, turned out to be dead leaves in a recognizable bird shape. I may need to get my glasses checked.
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American Elephants 