Here in the Pacific Northwest (USA), we have had one heckuva winter and spring. In a normal year, we would be starting to see daffodils pop up out of the ground right around my birthday in mid-February, a fact that always boggled the minds of my grandparents in Chicago when they were alive. 2021, however, decided to mix it up and give us a total deep freeze for more than a week, with over a foot of snow (not at all normal) and freezing rain which took out power to at tens of thousands of households across the area. The power was out for 10 days, in some areas! I don’t think I had ever experienced anything like it in my life.

Then in March and April, the weather stayed quite a bit cooler than average. We didn’t hit 60° until late March and then it was only a day or two. The rain also hung on quite a bit longer than normal. I don’t generally mind the rain too much, since it does keep too many desert-folk from coming to live in the area, but after so long, one does start to get weary.

Anyway, this week all that is changing. We are having a solid week of clear weather with temperatures in the 70s, which is 21-26C, for my international friends. It is going to be positively radiant! Now if only I had some way to take another week off work!

Obviously, I have much to catch up on, work-wise, but what this weather is going to allow me to do is rekindle my outdoor afternoon nap habit in the hammock that I started at the onset of the pandemic last year. I barely had time this afternoon with a late working day, a dog walk and a dinner to make, but I managed to doze for 20 minutes and it was well worth it. So here’s hoping that this week will be full of outdoor hammock naps, even if I have to burn some midnight oil to make it happen. It’s all about priorities!