Gene Kelly in "Singing In The Rain" -- One of my very favorite old movies
Well, maybe not exactly singing in the rain, because I have a terrible singing voice, but definitely smiling about the rain ! In a December post describing the Christmas 2010 snowfall we had here on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, I mentioned that our temperate coastal climate is definitely one of our area’s great attributes, one of the many delightful aspects of our coastal livestyle. Usually when areas nearby are wrestling around with snow, here we are having rain. Being a slender peninsula bordered to the east by the Atlantic Ocean and to the west by the Chesapeake Bay, the proximity of these large bodies of water helps moderate our temperatures in both summer and winter, so that we remain warmer in the winter than nearby areas and cooler in summer ( plus we get delightful summer breezes blowing gently off the Chesapeake Bay. ) So even though it rained yesterday for most of the day, pouring buckets from time to time, light showers in-between, I was glad to see it. Not for us the snarled traffic, snow, slush and 400,000 + homes without power this morning in the Washington DC metro area, with some folks reportedly being trapped last night in a 13 hour commute as described at www.washingtonpost.com . Not for us the 15 inches of snow that fell in New York City and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut, that closed schools, airports, offices, etc. as reported at www.nytimes.com . For us not even the comparatively puny 11 inches of snowfall in Boston which created massive morning commute problems today. Nope, for us yesterday it was high temps in the 40’s and rain ! Sweet, sweet rain, refilling farm ponds, recharging aquifers, giving my car a needed wash, irrigating the long line of dwarf azaleas we planted last fall along our driveway, pattering on the roof, a quiet sound and especially welcome in lieu of the snow, snow, snow piling up in other areas. ( If you’re sick of freezing cold, snowstorms and ice storms but like a moderate four season climate, check out our great coastal listings on www.blueheronva.com . ) So, yes, yes, yes, once again our traditional moderate climate has proved true, no snow for Virginia’s Eastern Shore. I’m smiling about the rain, just smiling about the rain.