Ambiguous is the change of seasons

Sue Clark

It was chilly Sunday walking my dog. Chilly by Newport-Mesa

standards, anyway. I put his tie-dye sweater on him, but some teens

driving by laughed, so I whipped it off and stuck it in my

sweatshirt. The dog looked relieved, but we both began to shiver

dramatically, as small dogs and Southern Californians do when it dips

below 70. How do we know when the seasons change around here, anyway?

We continued up Tustin Avenue to 17th Street in Costa Mesa. I

peered into the window of Chantal and Vicky’s boutique, where I

looked longingly at the James Perse T-shirts, made of fine thin

cotton, too cold for November and too expensive for me. The fashions

in the window demonstrated the seasonal schizophrenia I see in fall

and winter seasons. Tiny tanks competed with sheepskin-lined corduroy

coats. I suppose you just layer a peacoat over a James Perse -- if

you can afford it.

I walked by Morri’s flowers, my seasonal checkpoint. Hmm, lots of

red and green in the displays. It’s beginning to look a lot like

winter break. Some of my students are fasting in honor of Ramadan,

and Yom Kippur is long past. That’s how I know it’s late fall or

early winter.

I wondered what I’d do when I retire. Each day would blur into the

next, and I’d need to totter by Morri’s on a daily basis. Luckily,

it’s between the Orange County Teachers’ Federal Credit Union and

Diedrich’s, so the location is a mixed-use area for an elderly

schoolteacher.

The heaters were on in the outside patio at Diedrich’s, another

cue for late fall. The clerk, who always calls me “young lady,” was

wearing shorts. I was in my Newport Harbor High School sweatshirt and

long workout pants, and the rest of the customers were either bundled

up or wearing tanks and shorts. This confusion might be the post-rain

trauma we’re experiencing. Is it winter? Maybe an El Nino winter?

What about that lightning?

My sister in Sutter Creek just laughed when I told her it rained

last week. “You sound so excited,” she said.

Any time I’m at 24-Hour Fitness and the weather news comes on,

there’s a rumble of anxiety if the stations show “Storm Watch” on the

logo. All of us peddle a little more frantically and brace ourselves

for the deluge.

A friend of mine retired from teaching and moved from Costa Mesa

to Montana this year. She was repeatedly warned that Montana cold is

different than Costa Mesa “cold.” Last week, when she went out to get

her paper, she slipped on some ice. It was sunny outside, but there

was ice. She didn’t notice it until it was too late.

“I found out that in Montana, it has snowed every month of the

year,” she told me in fearful tones.

As my dog and I rounded the corner to Irvine Avenue and proceeded

home past Newport Harbor High, I recalled another sound of fall: the

throbbing beat of the drums playing during football games. I looked

up and saw a teenager stringing up lights on the roof of his house.

The first holiday lights. Maybe it’s winter, now. The boy was in

shorts and a T-shirt, like half of us are, so I was still confused.

I got home and found a catalog from South Coast Plaza. Now I know

for sure where we are, seasonally speaking. There are party dresses

and Christmas trees. It’s still fall. I’ll know it’s truly winter

when they send out their spring catalog.

* SUE CLARK is a Newport Beach resident and a high school guidance

counselor at Creekside High School in Irvine.