Oz, Alice, and Me

What do Dorothy in Oz, Alice in Wonderland and a southern living Yankee all have in common?

It just doesn't feel like home. Nothing is predictable or familiar. There's always a sense of losing my balance, falling down a rabbit hole or twirling in a tornado. I have to keeping telling myself, "It's all real. You're only living in another state, you idiot. Plenty of people move here and love it. The rest of the world would love to trade places. What's the matter with you?"

I think it's the little things. After all, it's November, the month after Brad was born on a long-ago Halloween---when it was cold, cloudy and drizzly for two weeks straight after his birth. And then it snowed.

Camelia in my front yard

But now, here in the South, the weather's been glorious! The nights are brisk and cool 50's, the days are in the 70's, perfect for raking leaves. Except many leaves are still on the trees. Silly leaves. It's November! Trees are supposed to be gray and naked, shivering in the rain. Down here they're still changing color. The leaves are falling the way some Southerners drive or walk ---they saunter. They'll get where they're going in their own sweet time.

Azaelia in my backyard

The flowers are messed up too. Why are they blooming????! A garden center sign said, "It's time to plant pansies." I'm trying to fit in, so I planted pansies! Rumor has it they'll bloom through the winter! How bizarre! A few azaela bushes which were looking quite scrubby just burst out with some hot pink ruffles. And I found out I have a Camelia tree in my front yard. I'd never even seen a camelia before! My patient and long-suffering neighbor told me what it was, and yes---it's supposed to be full of blooms! Yankee brain says it's November; it's supposed to look like it's dead.

I gotta go set a spell. I don't want to go back to the land of snizzle (an Ohio weather term), but flowers in November are beyond belief! Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore---or Ohio!