Whoops--I forgot where I am

The first month I was in DC, I was attached to the high and dry forests and mesas of New Mexico from whence I had departed.

Now, as I approach my last month in DC, I forget that I haven't moved to my new home yet, the red rock deserts of Utah where forested mountain clusters rise like freckles on the desert landscape. (Do freckles rise? I hate the pimple analogy).

I woke up this morning and red for a few minutes in bed as the sun streamed in my window. When I got up, I even walked over the glass patio doors in the living room to feel the outside temperature. But by the time I walked out of the apartment building, wearing two-layer shortsleeves and a thin jacket, I realized I am not in Utah yet! This Dorothy was hit by a gentle wind and an urban sidewalk shadow that made her realize that when it is sunny on this here East Coast of the USA, it is colder than on the cloudy, warm day prior. Out west, it can be anything on a sunny day, because it is almost always a sunny day. And when the day before was warm, it tends to be warm the next.

Not here though.

However dizzying this constant change of place (pace?) may be, you can rest assured that I will never pull a NIMBY (not in my backyard), because chances are that someday it will be my backyard!