This is me in the sun:
Its been sunny in Austin for about a week. And like the flowers, I say its about damn time!
I don’t do well in the cold. I hurt. My teeth chatter. My fingers get stiff. You know what else happens? I complain. I complain A LOT. But it does no good. Spring comes in its own time. Seems like it took quite a bit of its own time this year and I would lodge an official complaint if I knew who to complain to.
My definition of cold is, ummm, probably not yours. I’m cold when its below 70 degrees (that 21 degrees for all you non-Fahrenheit-using readers!). Yes I know. I’m chilly all the up until the high seventies. I don’t even think about air conditioning until temperatures reach the mid 80s. Why am I such a cold-natured freak?
Explanation Number One: I think I have reptile DNA in me. I might, in fact, be part-snake.
A perfectly HARMLESS ribbon snake. Don’t freak out.
When I see a lizard or a snake sitting on a hot rock in the sunshine I always stop and think “Yeah buddy. That’s the good life right there. Wish I had time to sit around on hot rocks.” Us cold-blooded creatures need that sunshine (and coffee) get us warmed up and moving in the mornings.
Explanation Number Two: It could be heredity. I come from a family of thin people who are mostly always cold. My dad was thin. Muscular, but in a thin sort of way and he was always freezing in the winter and out worshiping the sun in the summer. My brother is painfully thin (he has to eat like a professional athlete just to keep his weight up) and always cold. Then there is my mom. She is a skinny little thing and the only person in the whole wide world that is more cold sensitive than me. At her church there is a blanket for her to sit under year round.
Explanation Number Three: The doctors say its my low standing heart-rate (which everyone in my family has) and my lupus. Have I mentioned I have lupus? I do technically but I’m healthy now and strong and haven’t had a flare up in years. That condition doesn’t slow me down much these days. But, “having a permanently compromised immune system has damaged your endocrine system and the body’s ability to self-regulate temperature… ” Or something. I mostly tune that stuff out.
Personally I think its a result of reptile recombinant DNA mutation. That’s the mostly likely reason, right?
Or maybe its bug DNA that I have. I notice all the bugs come out and buzz around in the blazing sunshine.
Or cactus. I could be a human-cactus mutant. Cactus manage to be pretty and very intimidating at the same time. That wouldn’t be too bad at all.
PS: I took all these pictures, even the snake-y one. That’s what this post was, an excuse to show off pictures off living things soaking up those glorious sun rays. I’ve been doing that every chance I get, sitting out in the sun, feeling its heat on my skin, drinking warm tea (its not hot enough to put ice in my drinks yet!) and knitting. Sometimes I make little happy groaning sounds too.
I hope everyone else is enjoying a spate a good weather. If not, you could always come to Austin. I’ll find a place for you in the sun. I might even be able to come up with a nice hot rock too.
PSS: Remember that post on how to cheat at picking colors? If you run the sunflower picture through the Sherwin-Williams Chip It! application it comes up with some lovely colors. I do like that Tansy Green to Obstinate Organe to Roycroft Copper Red set. It gives me ideas.
"There is no failure. Only feedback." - Robert Allen
8 Comments on "Loving the Sunshine"
Loved all of this post and your photos are gorgeous!
Thanks! I love taking pictures of flowers and bugs. And if I can get a picture of a bug on a flower I’m in heaven!
It’s finally in the mid-80s here in MO and I have just gotten warm! I totally get what you are saying. I hate winter *grumbles* The photos are beautiful! Show off some more!
Thanks! And congrats or your gorgeous weather.
Hmm… Can’t be cactus… You’re not quite prickly enough. Has to be reptile.
Have you considered the possibility of alien DNA? If anyone has a problem with me wearing a scarf at 70 degrees, I just tell them I’m not used to the temperature on this planet yet.
I never knew you had lupus. Here’s to wishing you many more flare-up free days full of tea and sunshine (and yarn!). And thanks for the pictures – Very uplifting on a cloudy day!
I had not considered being an alien from another (warmer) planet. I’ll have to try that on. it may work perfect. People already do think I’m pretty strange. They’d probably believe the alien bit.
I’m glad you liked the pictures!
They make solar power gadgets of all kinds. I’m waiting for solar clothes so I can stand around outside soaking up a few rays and carry that warmth inside with me.
So if you find some solar yarn a shawl would be great. Thanks.
Solar yarn.
!!!
OMG that is an awesome idea. You should run right out and grab a patent or something. Yarn that retained heat for sunshine and radiated it to you all day long would be … well… it would be the best. I’d pay a fortune for it.