WEATHER OR NOT?

Seventy-two? Wow. Sigh. I'd like that!!!

The muggy doesn't bother me too much, as long as it doesn't get over 80.

It was a beautiful day, sunny, nice lazy clouds under a lovely blue sky, slight breeze. The kind of day makes you want to walk on the beach, but alas, had to go back to work!

Okay, Pollyanna...

The strong winds with rain also give us to have bad hair days, allowing us to pretend that we are in FL with our friend Rae.

The strong winds also give us the push we need to get out and redo our Christmas lights, putting them up the way we really wanted to put them up in the first place. Why, we wouldn't get anything done right around here if it weren't for the weather...I can hardly wait for the downpours we're expected to have on Christmas Eve and Christmas day! Such fun!

I suppose you all have the 4 seasons up there, you know, falling leaves in autumn, spring flowers, winter wonderlands, and just right summers. Sure you have a lot of rain, but that's why it's so green, just like Ireland:)

We have all of that, and we love it. Just not the winds mixed with rain like we're having right now. Some of the wind gusts have been in the 45 to 65 mph range depending on where you are, and they've been causing a bit of a problem for many around here...especially with all of the tall trees. Once the ground gets saturated, the trees come down easily in the big gusts of wind. Lots of car accidents, too.

I went to see my physician yesterday for my semi-annual check up. She told me that the latest cardio-vascular disease prevention is to put in one hour of strenuous exercise every day, and half hour of brisk walking. It was raining pretty hard today, but I got my butt off the couch, and drove myself to the nearest shopping center to walk for half an hour - even though I felt a little tired. I hope to increase my brisk walking time by five minutes every day until I reach the half hour. c.i. geesh, I gotta check my spelling before I hit "Submit."

That's great, c.i. Not far from where I live there is a shopping mall, and I know that every morning, year 'round, people of all ages show up before the stores open to walk for an hour or so. It seems to be a pretty popular thing to do.

Brisk walking in shopping malls??? How can you do that! What about those oldies with their sticks and walkers. Mums with strollers? Toddlers?
Is the weather that fierce? You can never get up anything faster than an amble here. Or are malls something else over there?

On a travel forum I visit, someone talked of going to "Mall of America" for his holidays - I thought it was a joke - fer-gudnes-sake - who goes to a shopping mall for the holidays? However, he got some responses recommending hotels, and shops to visit. I didn't believe it, and still can't - what is the matter with these people?

They do alot of walking in enclosed shopping malls in Hawaii too. First time I ever experienced or heard of that. I went to the Windward Mall in Kaneohe, Oahu in the early morning and was surprised at the amount of people who were walking in, out, up, down the mall. The funny part is, is that the mall management encourages the practice.

margo, they do the walking before the mall opens. The stores are closed but the open mall area is available for the walkers.

BTW, met, well actually talked on the phone with a displaced Aussie this afternoon. She was trying to sell me some advertising. She mentioned that were she lived there were fires which burned 100's of acres annually. Must be from your part of the country. I'm going to ask the next time I talk with her.

c.i., are you walking at the Eastridge mall? Me and some of my friends used to drive up from Salinas to Eastridge just to see something that big and of course to see different women (boys will be boys ). It was at the time one of the largest malls in the area.

The Roscrucian (sp?) museum was fun. Also liked the S.J. flea market. Funny thing though, nobody sold any fleas.

I walk in all weather... that's what raincoats are for... but hey, the dogs need to be outside running about and amok.

It is funny, I'm less than 20 miles from Matrix, but didn't get any of those gusty winds this time. Weather patterns are so localized. I have the "Weather Bug" on my 'puter, so I can check what's happened in the last 24 hours at two different places, an airport and a school, within a couple of miles of my house. 'swonderful.

People walk the malls in Florida too. Many of them like the hour before the stores open, when it is quiet. In a hot climate, it is very difficult to walk outside in the summer when the temperature and humidity is very high. So the nice air conditioned malls are a great place to walk. There are bathrooms, restaurants, and, as the shopkeepers hope, a walker can see something on his walk, and become a customer!

Lots of people walk the Tacoma Mall... it is funny to see them, dressed in their jogging outfits (though they don't jog) and quickly pacing the polished tile floors. I think, though the flooring is hard, it is better to walk inside than to walk on the streets in the polluted air car fumes and the inevitable asbestos dust from brakes.

No shopping malls- shopping streets. With 22F you walk briskly this afternoon.

And wear gloves, right?

No- that would be too warm. Got a very warm coat and walking briskly takes care of the rest.

pueo, We now have "Great Mall" in Milpitis that's larger than Eastridge. My wife and I go there about twice a year to walk all the way around for our constitutional. c.i.

Piffka...

A pilot relative of mine explained to me that where I live is on a kind of high plateau and that's the reason we get the weather here that others around us might not. When Mr. Matrix comes home from work (from the north) he says that the weather usually changes to a more extreme version of what he's been driving through once he gets closer to our exit on the freeway.

Margo...

The people who get up early to walk around in the shopping malls before they open are, for the most part, serious walkers. They don't just stroll around, but move at fairly rapid pace, usually lapping the mall several times before they're done with their walk. On the few occasions that I've been there early enough to witness this in person, I've noticed that there has also been some kind of medical personnel in the area, too, just to keep an eye on things.