A drizzle dripped through the fog with the air chilled to the low 40s.
I tried to go swimming this morning. It did not go well.
I've been sneezing. I wonder if there is any connection between sneezing and getting in cold water?
Someone calling him or herself Anonymous mentioned wading through my weather and swimming reports on my blog, sort of implying this wading was tiresome.
Speaking of tiresome, this weather we are experiencing today on this less parched part of the planet is what a stereotypical winter day in the Puget Sound zone of Western Washington is like.
I really don't know if I could go back to living in that climate again. I remember my first time back to Washington after my Texas exile, I was already used to the almost perpetual Texas blue sky. That trip north, every morning I'd get up expecting to see blue, to be greeted by gray and wet.
I think I've mentioned previously that my last time I spent time in Washington, July 20 through August 20 of 2008, I shivered almost the entire time. I was really glad to be back in Texas, that time, for several reasons, in addition to wanting to be warm.
That same person calling him or herself Anonymous has also been making comments regarding me being exiled in Texas, suggesting I never have anything positive to say about Texas, which renders me boring.
Apparently I paint Washington as a heavenly paradise with strawberries growing on every tree, while I paint Texas as the Devil's Earthly manifestation of Hell on Earth. This Anonymous person says she or he has never met any of the type Texans I describe.
I don't recollect ever spending any time describing any particular Texans. Except maybe Gar the Texan and Elsie Hotpepper.
The first comment from this person calling him or herself Anonymous was to a blogging titled The Last Sunday Of November of 2011 Has Dawned Wind Free & Cold In Texas.
And then this morning there have been a couple comments from Anonymous to a blogging from yesterday titled A Curious Anonymous Question Leads Me To The Lonely Planet Of Texas.
Below are the two comments....
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A Curious Anonymous Question Leads Me To The Lonely Planet Of Texas":
I read this blog occasionally, mostly for mentions of Tandy Hills Park, a place I love. I'm sometimes moved to comment, an urge I suppress. I don't think I can convince you of anything. Nevertheless, just a few thoughts: You are welcome to lament. But laments unrelieved by anything positive are just boring.
The Texans that you describe bear little resemblance to people that I know here.
Some of your comments about Texan's exceptionalism are on the money. But you match them with your view of Washington as a paradise without political corruption, with kindly people loving the environment and each other (and strawberries). It makes sense for a reader to ask, what keeps you here? Most of us, here by jobs or even by birth just try to make the best of it. What would your blog look like if you lived in Washington??
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A Curious Anonymous Question Leads Me To The Lonely Planet Of Texas":
I have returned to comment yet again, to let you know you mischaracterized me when you “answered” the comment I left for you a few days ago.
Please do not include me among those who think lamenting is a bad thing. I myself regularly lament. Lamenting is often very warranted. And I don’t begrudge you your lamenting. In fact, I dare say we share some similar laments. Otherwise I would not wade through your weather reports and swimming reports.
Also, please do not lump me into that group of Texans who would like to see you “get your butt north of the Red River.” Au contraire, I think you are an asset to our state. My curious, anonymous comment was first and foremost a simple question. Because you do so frequently compare Texas and Washington and because you regularly find Texas not as appealing in many ways, I simply began to wonder why you became exiled here and why you have chosen to remain here. Surely I could accurately say that you have rather invited that question.
I found your Lonely Planet Texas offering amusing. But surely that is not why you are exiled here. I even chuckled when you meandered your way into some more Fort Worth bashing. And I began to suspect that you may have never intended to answer me. Your ability to take a question and chat all around it and turn it into some of your favorite “rants” suggests you could morph into a politician.
I am not your typical Texan. I cringe at the mandatory “Have a nice day.” And I shall never sugar-pie anyone. The political candidates I vote for almost always lose. And I don’t have a “love it or leave it” mentality.
Just Curious.
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Well.
I have a Washington blog. It is called Durango Washington.
As for being curious as to why I am exiled in Texas. The blog you are reading right now has had well over 4,000 blog posts, dating back, I think, to some point in 2007. Among those blog posts the story is told as to how I found myself in Texas. And what has kept me here.
I have no intention to re-tell this story, yet again.
Primarily because doing so can bring me to tears, depending on what sort of mood I am in...
