Seasonal awareness

Growing up in New Jersey I had an acute awareness of, if not always an appreciation for, the changing seasons.
Summer = no school. Riding my bike all day and not coming home until it was time for dinner.
Fall = Back to school clothes, Halloween and Thanksgiving. Really just counting the holidays until Christmas.
Winter = snow and the rare snow day. Christmas and New Year's. Loving, and then getting really sick of snow.
Spring = hope. Crocuses and short sleeves and the end of school in sight.

Now I am grown and living in California. Before I had kids the seasons were summarily shortened to Rain or Sun. Now I have the added complexity of School, No School but even these things put together don't approach the happy rotation known as Seasons.

Today I am in Idaho. Well, actually I woke up in Idaho, spent an hour or so in Montana, the bulk of the day in Wyoming and then back to Idaho in time for dinner. Yesterday the unthinkable happened: I felt rain on my skin in August. In the morning I left to go fishing in my usual (California-based) summer fishing attire: shorts, sandals and a long sleeve fishing shirt (to protect my delicate skin), only to find that it was freaking cold in the morning and I had to buy pants - which I wore for the entire day - along with my rain jacket. Today the weather was beautiful. But having been fooled by yesterday's rain, I went to Yellowstone in jeans and a shirt and fleece jacket. Only to come home hot, sweaty and with a sunburn (I have the nicest triangle burn on my chest).

It seems that all of these years in California have dulled my sense of seasonal awareness and I literally don't know how to dress anymore. I am fly fishing again tomorrow and on my chair I have shorts (ha), my fishing shirt, fleece pants, fleece jacket, waders, wading boots, socks, hat, SUNTAN lotion, the kitchen sink and anything else I can think of. I'm sure the guide will be amused. Those California people.

The guides in Idaho are pretty traditional and adhere to a strict guide uniform: long pants and button down fishing shirts, hat, waders and boots. They have to wear waders because unlike any other guide I've fished with, instead of rowing the boat, they PUSH it. That's right, they walk the river and hold the boat in areas they want us to fish. Oh yes, they are all thin and in amazing shape.

They are also planning on leaving soon. For them, this is the end of the season and after a few great weeks of fishing in September they will hightail it to other climates. California has the luxury of fishing year round, but soon here there will be inches of snow and ice and no tourists to push around in boats. It will be Winter.

I don't know from winter.

I do know that my girls start school in less than a week and we will reluctantly have to return home in time for that. This is my next season: Back to School.

After that will come the rain.