Weather

Before I moved from New England to Southern California, I not only assumed enduring winter was part of human life, but I suspect I was even a little self-righteous about those who face winter hardships having more character than those who don't.

After a decade in San Diego we retired to our 1830 farmhouse in rural Vermont.

In November.

I have joked that I said to my wife, "If I can muster the energy, I'm going to kill myself." But it was only partially a joke. Not that I really would kill myself, but that I found the cold, the drab, and especially the lack of luster to the daylight, incredibly depressing.

She was still doing work in California and in April I went with her. One afternoon I took a long swim in the ocean. When she came home I asked, "What were we thinking?"

That was 15 years ago. We found ourselves a nice little apartment near the beach, and we now come to California at the first serious sign of winter in Vermont, and don't return until some neighbor gives us the all-clear, sometime in May.

It's true that those who spend winters in New England have more character.