Saturday, February 22, 2025
I Don’t Like the Cold!
All right, all right. Cold is relative. What seems freezing cold to me, a proud native of South Texas, might seem downright balmy to my friends in New England and Canada. Or even my grandkids in Tennessee and Maryland. But still. Texans, especially those of us who are closer to Mexico than Oklahoma, have a little different yardstick to measure the weather. And by my yardstick, the last few days here in San Antonio have been cold.
I can tell it’s been cold simply by going out on my patio. I brought in what plants I could before the cold front hit, but most of them had gotten too large, or their stone pots were too heavy to drag inside. I went out this morning to survey the damage. The hibiscus is history, as are most of the Norfolk Pines. Not sure about the geraniums, but I don’t hold out much hope. The only plants to come through unscathed were a couple of bushes, I don’t remember the name, that are natives and commonly used in landscaping. They aren’t the prettiest plant ever, but at least they are alive. It’s hard to find plants in the nurseries that are cold-weather hardy. San Antonio likes to pretend it’s tropical (it’s not) and besides, think of all the business the nurseries will do replacing all those plants.
So how do I cope with the cold? A fire in the fireplace helps, as does hot tea a big pot of my mom’s vegetable soup. I do have a big fuzzy coat I bought to play an outdoor gig some years back that comes out when it gets really cold. I have a Kindle loaded with good stories to curl up with. And I pretend. I played for the hula dancers Thursday, ignoring their long leggings and knitted caps, and pretended we were on Oahu. I listened to my favorite ukulele artist while I ironed some Aloha shirts I’d worn during a warm snap. I posted some summer pictures on TikTok. I looked at some Caribbean cruises I most likely won’t take.
And I reminded myself that August and September in South Texas are no picnic either.
