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Fair Weather

Dan Blaufuss | March 2011


   Cartoonist Bill Watterson once penned into a Calvin & Hobbes comic strip that “getting an inch of snow was like winning 10 cents in the lottery.” I have friends who share that sentiment and couldn’t have been more excited about the 20.2 inches that fell on Chicago at the beginning of February. As I write this a few weeks later, however, I have already lost track of how many times I’ve thought that a couple of 90-degree days would clear everything up. Unfortunately, I dislike hot weather as much as I dislike snow and cold. I have a friend who refers to anything below 70 as frigid, but I am most comfortable when it is about 55 outside.
   It fascinates me how people perceive temperature so differently. A common complaint is that Illinois gets a week of spring and fall, and the other 50 weeks of the year are freezing or roasting. However, my friend who is always cold complains that she gets at best eight weeks of what she considers decent weather; to her it is winter the other 10 months of the year, including months I would label as too hot.
   I don’t know anyplace where it is 55° year-round, so compromise on weather is necessary. I could move further south for less snow, but the tradeoff is hot, humid summers. North is cooler but with more snow. Further complicating the decision is the threat of earthquakes, hurricanes, or tornadoes.
   Just as people seem to be naturally drawn to one climate, they also are drawn to certain instruments, whether based on experience, sound quality, or some other intangible factor. I am drawn to bass instruments, but when I joined the all-university steel band in college I chose cello pans (with a range of roughly two octaves centered on A3) over basses. I find the sound of steel pans in that range extremely beautiful. What I didn’t realize at the time, was that if the music had offbeats or strumming patterns, the cellos were likely to play them. The first time a reggae chart was handed out, I remember making a snarky comment about seeing a page of music with nothing but offbeats. The graduate student retorted, “Then I guess you chose the wrong instrument, didn’t you?” I stuck with them when I moved into the top steel band. I think when you don’t have the melody all the time, you savor it more when you do have it. It reminds me of the wonderful feeling of the first 40-degree day after a cold spell. I can’t have the weather I want all of the time, so I try to make the most of it when it does come around.