Check the calendar. It’s hard to believe, but true. South Florida really does have a winter, right there where it belongs (between December and March). This one seems to be longer than previous ones. We’re in the middle of yet another week of cold temperatures. Seriously! Daytime highs in the 60’s, nights in the 40’s. If you don’t think that’s cold, you haven’t spent a decade of your life down here bringing hundreds of capillaries to the surface trying to purge your body of unwanted heat. This adaptation to the heat, coincidentally, greatly improves the menu choices for the unofficial state bird, the saltmarsh mosquito (or Asian Tiger, or house, or whichever mosquito species you most abhor). But then, the cold pretty much takes the mosquitoes out of action, too, so it’s a mixed blessing.
Those of you from snowier climes may well chuckle at the cold sensitivity of us south Florida folk. That’s OK; we chuckle a lot longer and a lot louder during the 2–3 months of a normal winter when we’re enjoying our typical mid-70-degree days and mid-60 nights, with a delightful dryness in the air the only hint of the frostier weather you temperate folks get.
It’s so cold down here I actually dragged out a down vest this morning, only to rediscover for the tenth time that I need warm sleeves to be warm. Apparently skinny arms lose heat faster than larger ones. Maybe I need to head to the gym.