Paulette's World...

October 19, 2007
Sunshine and Sandals


yah... three years ago, i remember seeing this image on my apartment's mailbox in Payson, Utah. It was the very first time in my entire life, to be honest. I think I ran out there with my snow-boots strapped on to poke and laugh at it for days on end. I remember when the stupid mailbox simply disappeared during that rather harsh winter... and i didn't see my pair of sandals for MONTHS on end afterwards.

The next winter we were in Springville... and the stupid storm-cloud dumped a foot of snow on my one and only Tulip over-night! (i hand planted that poor little thing) We were in a basement apartment that year with not much more than our kitchen stove to keep us warm... and that little tulip was my "bit of sunshine" deeply needed. For weeks after that, i sheltered the tulip with our large orange snow-shovel, making it a safe little home from the wind, hail, and snow until it was safe for it to come out again. Course, it wasn't long, after the snow melted, that i awoke one morning to find that some kid had simply cut it off by it's throat and it was gone. i think i cried. Anyways... THAT winter, i drug a chair and an umbrella out into the snow, sat down, and wrote a scene in my book as fast as i could, in the middle of a blizzard, about how COLD Wyan felt as he was lost in the forest one night. Trust me... i had ALL the details i could possibly want! (and it was rather awful penmanship too)

the winter after that we were in Tooele (there was another home in between those two, but it was only over the fall) We had huge boulders that eventually hid themselves all together like little waves in the snow. My dog would run across the yard and hit one, noise-planting herself on the other side. She'd also simply fall-off the edge of our rock-wall and completely disappear... and for an Australian-Shepard, that's a pretty good trick! THAT year, the ladies in our church decided to get together and do a morning walk every week-day for a month... and it was THAT year that i made knee-deep boot-prints through the snow and down my drive-way to join them... only to stand out there in my fat bright yellow coat for an hour, and then turn around and go back home... alone. (don't ask me why i kept going out... but i did, every day that entire month!) I think it was also that year that Twilight first came out... and i read the opening chapter in her book in my 32 deg basement. I finished that book in the same winter, but she tortured me with the constant reminder of how warm it was in Phoenix and how my fingers would NOT have been turning an unhealthy shade of blue had i still been there! (btw: Phoenix is my "home town") THAT year my friends kept finding me up on the roof as i tried to soak in some reflective warmth from our dark-black shingles and proved how much of a Snow-Bird i should be!

Course, the only reason I'm thinking about this, is because my mom just wrote me and told me that the snow-season was starting again. And here I sit, THIS winter in Bullhead City, Arizona... still wearing my t-shirt, sandals, and capris, as the average temperature is still in the solid 80s. (or was it finally 79-i forget) Either way, today is actually 92 and last night my AC in my home still came on to cool us down, and it's only set for 78. Go figure. Yesterday, my husband and i took our dogs out on a walk as the sun was setting, and completely enjoyed every minute of it... jacket free. Couldn't even tell that winter's coming (other than i'm not roasting alive anymore inside!) No wait, i take it back... i just put my toes up on my chair and sat on them cuz they were a little chilly. But just the ones on my right foot :)

Last year (christmas), my husband and i started a new tradition. We're going to make a new tree-ornament in honor of that year. So, we'll sit down and discuss what was significant about the year, and than get something to represent it and put it in a little clear-glass ornament ball. The one from 3 years ago, i filled with a ton of fake-snow.... this year i may just fill it with sand. (j/k) I wonder where NEXT year will take us...

Meanwhile, I'm sure not doing much blogging about that poor little book of mine. (probably a good reason for that... cringe) I should get busy!

Laters... (Paulette)