Weathering The Holidays

The wind comes out of the south and presses its weight across the Ashley River, bouncing tethered sailboats, and forcing pelicans to fly sideways.

The air is warm and moist as it cascades down Broad Street past Colonial Park and dead ends into East Bay Street. Only yesterday gloves and a sturdy coat were in great demand, but today, shorts and t-shirts are abundant, and so it goes in the Low Country.

While folks in Chicago and Boston, shovel and struggle with snow that is measured in feet not inches, we have our own battle to wage, that of flexible outerwear.

The forecast today is sunny and 72, the forecast on New Year's Eve calls for clear skies and and bone chilling 38. Holiday weather in the Low Country is a continual battle of too hot vs too cold.

But living in the Carolinas has it's advantages, we own both Christmas Sweaters and Christmas T-Shirts, women can wear sandals on Sunday and and knee high leather boots to work on Monday. Golfers and boaters still wear shorts in January even though the Bermuda grass has died off and ocean water temperatures have dropped below 65 degrees.

Our mild winters also provide a source of humorous entertainment. A trip to the Harris Teeter on Christmas Eve and I'm forced to shake my head and chuckle, watching a middle aged women push a cart full of champagne and orange juice towards the front of the store, all I can say is nothing says "Yankee" like wearing a full length fur coat while shopping at the Harris Teeter.

You'll find that Charleston women like to wear thin leather gloves on chilly days, but real southern men never wear gloves, unless they are clearing brush, sailing or running a chain saw.

While snow is a rarity, we get a good many frosty windshield mornings, but a true southerner would never own an ice scarper as a credit card will do just fine to scrape a 6x6 inch square which is good enough to drive down Lockwood drive til the D-frost kicks in.

I own a nice jacket, but it lives in my SUV, I don't own a heavy coat since February is just around the corner and it's been at least three years since I've seen a dusting of snow on Murray Boulevard.



But whenever there is a chill in the morning air, deep down inside I have this odd desire to stop by Lowes or Home Depot in hopes of buying the ultimate power tool, a tricked out 5 horsepower, four speed, track drive, with a head light Honda snow blower, just in case, because you never know....