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Seasons
In one of my former lives, I lived in a little house in Torrance, CA. There was a Lombardy Poplar in the front yard. [Leaves like an Aspen, but a tall thin tree] It used to change color and "shed" leaves two or three times a year. Obviously it was confused about the (non-existent) seasons in Southern California. I decided that the inhabitants were similarly confused, which would explain why they seem to just get on the freeway and drive (anywhere) on the weekend.
In Colorado, we had real seasons, and it seemed to structure our lives. What to do in the winter? Go skiing, of course. After you shovel the drive! Summer? Fishing & camping. Fall? Drive up and thru the changing leaves. Spring? Start tomatoes and hope that summer lasts long enuf for them to ripen. (It never did!) Bugs? Bugs die in the winter.
Belize really doesn't have seasons. The "Rainy Season" is sorta rainy, but there's a lot of sunshine too. And things are never really cold enuf even then. Bugs never die. Snakes don't hibernate. Dogs don't shed, because they never had a winter coat in the first place. Everything grows, anytime you plant it. And, most importantly, people don't structure their lives to fit with the seasons.
They react to the weather, of course. I'm scheduled to see a worker at my house on Thursday. Thursday, it rains, and he doesn't show up -- doesn't call to tell me he's not coming.
"Why didn't you call?"
"I thought you'd know that I wouldn't show up if it was raining."
And, of course, now I do. It wasn't all that important anyway. Nothing in Belize is so important that you can't postpone it for a day, or a week. Relax.
You can live to be 100 if you'll learn to relax. Otherwise, you better go back to the States -- you'll have a heart attack looking at your watch.
Rick Z.
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