Muted Shades of Spring

It is my seventh spring in the Bay Area.  I have to say, I have not tired of life in the Bay Area yet.  Set the cost of living aside, life in here is vibrant.  The beautiful diversity of communities, the unique contrast of a more old(ish) world environment in San Francisco to the funky coastal communities near Santa Cruz to the almost too quickly changing face of Silicon Valley.

Spring 2017, California Coast

Then there is the weather.  For a guy who has lived in many northern climates, the beautiful and consistent weather can become a bit bland.  The lack of drama of the fall gives way to the pastel-grey of winter which is more of a doze than a sleep.

People who come from the north like to say there are no season changes in a place like this, as well as in San Diego, where I lived in the early 1990s.  But it's not true, they just aren't as dramatic.  When I left San Diego in 1992, I was "missing the seasons" and I very much enjoyed my first fall and winter in Idaho.

It is different now.  Maybe it is that I am nearing 60, rather than just being beyond 30.  Indeed I remain happy here, seven years gone.  I've come to appreciate the shades of my favorite season, Spring.  I like the pockets of Autumn that appear when Summer is gone, and I've learned where to find them, here near my Bay Area home.

But, as if to give me a little taste of what was, the Northern California winter was colder than usual, wetter than usual, and the sunroof on my car was planted shut for months.  In the last couple weeks, as the solstice came, the stream of clouds and rain that graced the area for what seemed months without much rest, relented.

Yes, the shades of Spring are still muted here.  The rich smell of the countryside awakening that I recall from Pennsylvania, Idaho, Maryland and Germany will not be equaled by the Bay Area, but there is a richness about this particular March that will remain with me.

Happy Sunday from Silicon Valley in Spring.