Jeremy realizes that only in MN can he "wait for it to warm up to -10 deg" before shoveling the driveway.
This is true. It was -10 this morning which was good enough to send the kids back to school. I keep my cooking oil in a cupboard which backs up to an outside wall. In this sort of weather it starts to cloud. I ran to the neighborhood grocery store in clogs Monday, for the love of Pete, and had frozen heels by the time I got back.
Our sweet little reader Audrey has invited us to move down to Arizona, but here's the thing: Have you ever seen a Minnesotan in humidity? We fall to pieces. We melt. We are aghast that anyone should consider putting up with such horrid weather. "You can always put on another sweater," we say. "But there's only so much you can take off."
When I consider moving to another state -- and, say, enjoying a garden with more than the four varieties of plants and flowers that will grow in Zone 4 -- I wonder what I would have to gain. A longer mosquito season? Poisonous snakes? A hurricane season? A tornado season? (Yes, we have tornadoes here, but they aren't that bad compared to the rest of the country and you know it.)
My friend Patty is moving bakc to New Jersey after living here maybe 10 years. Since I have known her she has wanted nothing more than to get back to New Jersey. She did not understand our food, our language or our ability to drive on the ice. I love languages and it has been our running joke that she has been teaching me to speak Jersey. "Yo, Patty!" I say in my most stern tone of voice.
Well, 10 years later there she goes and she just can't stop crying. She is glad to go back to her own people, but it really is "Minnesota Nice" she says.
Yeah, you betcha.
Now I need to go put on another pair of socks.
Yo, Mary Lisa! I hope to be taking a little of that "Minnesota Nice" back east with me. And, hopefully, have left a little "Jersey" in Minnesota, if for no other reason than to remember me by, fondly, I might add. Love Ya, Miss, Ya, Mean It!!! Pattycakes, a future sister of the Bloghood
ReplyDeleteOh, one more thing....I see you practice the ancient art of home economics. One of my dear "senior" Minnesotan friends has informed me that in her day home economics was referred to as "Mothercraft". Oh dear, that one just gets me everytime I say it! I take with me many of these quirky sayings. You know, if a guy could remember half of them he'd be quite entertaining. Oh, ish!
ReplyDeleteImagine my surprise as I check your blog---my name in the title...I'm famous! I live a simple life, it doesn't take much :)
ReplyDeleteI just can't imagine it, same way it's hard to imagine 122 degrees here in July---but it's a DRY heat! As extreme as Arizona and Minnesota can be, they are home :)