Seasonal rituals for a foreign climate

April 4, 2019 9:17 AM

I'm from the Upper Midwest and have lived the past six years in the Pacific Northwest. It's possible I won't move home to the Midwest anytime soon, but I miss it deeply. Help me brainstorm new seasonal rituals and ways to bring out the colors and relate to my grayscale home.

These are the things I miss: thunderstorms, lightning bugs, humid sticky summers, dramatic seasonal changes, the crisp fall air and bright fall leaves, apple picking, cutting down a Christmas tree in the snow to take it home, making pineapple snow-drinks and cavorting outside a snowbound house and then cuddling up in front of the woodstove afterwards. I miss the contrasts, both of seasons and colors. The Pacific Northwest feels muted and two-seasonal in comparison.

Rituals/seasonal habits I already do here in the Northwest: Still cut down a Christmas tree, but in the rain. I could still go apple picking if I had a kiddo who was interested. I go chanterelle hunting in the fall and do winter mushrooming sometimes as well, when I can stand the rain. (Honestly, hating the rain and missing a healthy amount of ambient snow is one of my biggest struggles here.) There's the Vaux swifts migration to watch in the fall, and drive-to-the-snow activities like snowshoeing at the mountain in the winter. But I still need a way to make my ties here feel stronger, rather than like mild disappointments.

It's possible I will make my life here and have kids here (due to career considerations and also because the closest contingent of my Midwest friends live here now, and that community is important to me). But I'm mourning the fact that my hypothetical PacNW family and I won't get to chase fireflies or dance in pouring rain or count the seconds between the lightning and the thunder to figure out how far away it is, at least not on a regular basis. But, I tell myself, here we would get to go tidepooling at the coast and see whales...

Tl;dr: Help me figure out more ways to make the Pacific Northwest feel more like home, and to call attention to whatever contrasts and colors and startling moments of beauty are here in this climate and geography.

Extra credit: Is there any chance I'll ever stop hating rain? Strategies for making this happen? I've hunted mushrooms in it, hiked in it, gardened in it, and... I still hate it. My only non-rain-hating activities are soaking in an outdoor hot tub, and also scuba diving (because underwater, who cares if it's dreary on the surface?). But I can't spend all my time beneath the waves.

posted by cnidaria to Science & Nature (28 answers total)

When I used to run, rain runs sucked during the time from dry to soaked, but once I was fully saturated, it was kinda (squeaky) fun.

Making out (if you have an SO) in the rain is also pretty great.
posted by notsnot at 9:27 AM on April 4, 2019

As someone from the east coast who lived in the PNW for two years... I doubt you'll ever stop hating the rain. I didn't mind the rain, it was the gloom that got to me.
posted by Automocar at 9:36 AM on April 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

You can get a permit to cut a Christmas tree from one of the National Forests. At least the tree-cutting part can be in the snow.
posted by sevenless at 9:40 AM on April 4, 2019

Best answer: You can get some wild winter/spring colors on moss, lichens, ferns etc. That part has always amazed me when I've visited, and there's not much like it outside of the temperate rain forests. So maybe go looking for that.
posted by SaltySalticid at 9:45 AM on April 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: I guess I should clarify: I like thunderstorms and dramatic rain that opens up to sunshine later. But the gloomy monocloud situation with intermittent drizzle... ugh.
posted by cnidaria at 9:47 AM on April 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I'm in almost the inverse situation to you (grew up in the Pacific NW, now living very elsewhere and missing my side of the continent). Here are just a few of the West Coast traditions and idiosyncrasies and seasonal pleasures that I miss most, and which maybe you can borrow if any seem appealing to you?
- walking through forests that smell of cedar and dry pine needles that've been baking in the sun for days. Late July through September is usually good for this. It's a very particular and deeply amazing west-coast only smell that makes me so incredibly happy.
- there is nothing more West Coast-y to me than rainy Saturdays entirely lost to a good book, and a comfy chair, and a pot of tea. Sure, you can do this anywhere, of course, but there is something particularly delightful about the way that incessant gloomy rain makes this both a HABIT and a precious TREAT!
- yes to tidepool exploration! One of my favourite childhood pastimes, and still something I am thrilled to spend a lazy afternoon or six doing anytime I find myself home
- I very much miss keeping track of J-pod, our local orca family group, and the transient populations that stroll through in the spring and summer
- winter storm wave watching! There is nothing like hiking out to a secluded rocky point on the coast and (from a safe distance, of course!) watching the waves roar and crash and break marvelously on the rocks.
- foraging for wild berries in the summer
- mowing the lawn on Christmas day, and sending photos to relatives in the snowy middle of the continent who haven't seen grass in months
- sea kayaking!

As for the rain/gloom/mist/constant grey dampness....yep, it kinda really sucks, that is true. But it really isn't truly "constant" (summer exists!), and with good rain gear and a sun lamp and a good vitamin D supplement, it really can be bearable and even sort of lovely, in a quiet sort of way.
posted by Dorinda at 10:03 AM on April 4, 2019 [7 favorites]

I'm a big fan of rooting myself in a place by getting hyper-local when learning about native plants and animals. What grows within walking distance of your house that you are fond of or can make use of? Where I live, the Oregon grape just started blooming and I've been paying attention so I can pick berries later. There's horsetail in the marshy areas of a local park - just sprouting now, but later in spring it's edible and in the summer it turns into weird dinosaur plants that are neat to look at. I love fireweed and thus have taught myself what it looks like when it's dormant in winter, so I have something to look forward to when it blooms again.

Birds are good for this too, because the bird population is constantly changing. Where I live, we get interesting migratory waterbirds in the winter - maybe your winter bird population is also cool? That could be something to look out for.
posted by darchildre at 10:05 AM on April 4, 2019 [3 favorites]

Best answer: I'm from the east coast and lived in Minnesota for 6 years before I moved to Seattle, so I understand. I actually like the climate here, but sometimes I miss the seasons.

One thing I have discovered is that the longer I'm here, the more I notice and appreciate the seasons here. When I first moved here, and for the first few years, it just felt like the two seasons were summer and rain. But ... we have spring! And it's kind of glorious - not disappointing and muddy like it can be in the midwest. And we have fall! It's not as riotously colorful and doesn't have as many of those cool, crisp, sunny days, but we have some colors, and some crispness.

The other thing that might help is getting more into winter outdoorsy things that are available here. Do you ski (downhill or cross-country) or snowshoe? The snow in the mountains can be amazing - what if you took up a winter sport and rented a cabin in the mountains for a week every winter?

I could still go apple picking if I had a kiddo who was interested.

1. Kids are not required for apple-picking - I bet you could get a group of adults to go. 2. Could you borrow a friend's kid or go with friends who have kids?

I think the other thing is - sometimes you have to play a mind trick on yourself and just kind of lean into the place you are. Get really cozy in the winter with a stack of books to read and a list of shows to binge watch. Have people over for a hot toddy party. In the summer, fling yourself outdoors like the locals do. In the fall, take yourself on a hike in an area with some deciduous trees and see the mix of colors and evergreens. If you live in the city, get outside when you can.

Look for the natural beauty - I have fallen in love with certain PNW landscapes you can't find anywhere else, like how sometimes when you're taking the ferry on a cloudy day, the water is silver glass and it looks like the islands are wreathed in fog.
posted by lunasol at 10:19 AM on April 4, 2019 [5 favorites]

If you care about sportsball, find a watering hole where the owners/patrons root for your team.
posted by carmicha at 10:33 AM on April 4, 2019

I moved from Rural Australia to the Midwest. The thing that helped me was not only keeping my own traditions but embracing the local traditions. It takes a while for a new place to feel like home, find small things you like, focus on them, the rest will come with time, and keep a few traditions from where you used to live, I make them eat lamb for Easter, take a Pavlova to thanksgiving events, decorate for Christmas with Eucalyptus leaves & gumnuts, you don't have to give up who you were to become who you're going to be.
posted by wwax at 10:39 AM on April 4, 2019 [4 favorites]

Seasonal markers for me in PNW have a lot of berry-related content. Hood Strawberries are pretty early (and amazing). The last weekend in June/first in July is the very short window for picking blackcaps, and when blueberries are over so is the summer.

Also, the first whiffs of daphne in February, and right now, when every tree in the Portland Metro is falling all over itself to outdo it's neighbor's flowers. And then the State Fair and then the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival are markers for fall starting.

I miss thunderstorms and summer rain, too (from the east coast), but I also really like it when the oppressively pleasant summer weather subsides and I can justify retreating indoors to crafts and books. Those late summer events (the crafts at the fair, shopping and shows at OFFF) stoke my "making" urge and then eventually the weather cooperates.
posted by janell at 10:40 AM on April 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

My favorite thing about the PNW (apart from the people I love who live there) is the rainforesty bits of it. I remember hiking in the forest behind Multnomah Falls [1] and thinking I'd found primordial Narnia - every surface was glowing-green. I can't say much about seasonal changes, but the rainforest gave me a greater appreciation for why rain is worth it. You mentioned hiking so it's possible you've already seen all this stuff and didn't find it as moving as I did...

[1] before it burned down, sigh
posted by eirias at 10:41 AM on April 4, 2019

Could you spend some time in the San Juan Islands? Known as "the Banana Belt," they get less rain than other PNW locations. There is some fall color, and it does snow -- I've been sledding.
posted by jgirl at 11:20 AM on April 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

I moved to the PNW from the east coast last year. I'm in love with the landscape and seasons here, so I hope I can still be of help.

The thing I found most helpful was to fling myself into the landscape at top speed as soon as possible. I was kayaking whenever I could afford it last summer, and hiking when I had a chance. I paid attention to what trees were where and what they looked like. What does the air smell like in the middle of a five-month drought? The paths are so dry the dust sticks to my feet, and the Sound is bitter cold in August but Lake Union is like bathwater! And then through autumn and winter, the birds and the way the sun set changed. The Sound looks different now than it will in a few months. All these things help me mark new seasons and love the environment around me.

I don't love my local farmer's market*, but I faithfully shopped there all last summer and start of autumn, and seeing what new fruits and veg were available each week helped me mark the days. I was kind of disgustingly excited when apple season came around.
*to be fair, the market is fine, it was the 700 ill-behaved children who were also there.

Finally, I try to let the weather dictate my behavior. I'm active in summer, and lazier in winter, resting and sleeping more and feeling like all the plants dreaming through winter. And then we all wake up together in the spring, in a cloud of fruiting tree perfume. Just embedding myself in the other living things here did wonders for loving it all.
posted by kalimac at 11:56 AM on April 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

I’m not familiar with the PNW. That said: if you cultivate an interest in natural history it will give you a sense of the seasons. If you notice the birds and insects and flowers around you, you don’t just get one spring, you get a whole sequence of little springs. So for me in the UK, it might be snowdrops, the first woodpecker drumming, the flowers on the blackthorn, the first beefly, the first orange-tip butterfly, the first singing chiff-chaff, the first swallow, and so on. Each different event is a sign of progress. It’s a more gradual experience because the very first signs of spring happen when it really feels like winter, and then winter blends into spring and blends into summer.

It also might help you enjoy being outside in the damp if you have more things to look for and look at.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 12:06 PM on April 4, 2019

Best answer: Houston to San Francisco transplant here.

I can't speak to missing winter, I get upset whenever it dips below 60. But I miss my muggy summer nights. So I found a restaurant that has an outdoor patio with an awning, and heat lamps when I'm homesick. It's a bit less crowded than the various bars with a similar setting - which is also something I miss about Houston.

Food rituals are always a good way to mark the season. Update them with fancier cuts of meat or fresher local vegetables. After a few years, you'll be in a weird place where the original versions feel slightly dated. Like an old movie that hasn't aged quite as well as you thought it would.

Another thing was moving into a place with an enclosed balcony. So I can sit outside, and as long as it's not too windy, I can watch the rain but not be IN the rain. I feel in Houston, you could always take shelter from the weather, while San Francisco expects you to just roll with the weather.

The weirder thing I did was change my wardrobe around weight, rather than temperature. I bought one of those felt kigurumis to wear around the house when it was cold. That way I could wear my usual hot weather lounge tank and boxers, and the thing keeping me warm wasn't constricting. Or when I miss Energy Wasting air conditioners, I pull out my weighted blanket to mimic all the layers of comforters I'd snuggle in. I also bought a lot of light dense sweaters, because wearing bulky layers still feels so unnatural.

I realize this only provides one aspect of Midwest living. But hopefully you can brainstorm ways to apply that to missing the cold, since my brain can't fathom that possibility.
posted by politikitty at 12:10 PM on April 4, 2019

I also prefer four distinct seasons but I lived happily in the PNW for a while and became mostly indifferent to the rain. Some things I loved there:

Spring - my favorite season - lasts a really long time. You see the first signs of it in early February and even June still feels a lot like April. Spring is way too short where I live now.

Summer is perfect. Not too hot to enjoy being outside and being active and with very little rain. I know what you mean about missing thunderstorms, but I sure never missed high heat and humidity.

Cottonwoods. The smell of the buds and new leaves of cottonwoods is one of my all time favorites, and they're really common in the PNW. April is the time to go for a walk in a place with a lot of cottonwoods. In June, I liked seeing bits of cottonwood fluff floating everywhere.

Waterfalls and mountain rivers. At times I lived near some cool waterfalls and I liked to just go stand by them and watch them. On a hot day, I loved going up into the mountains and cooling off in some beautiful cool, clear, rocky river or stream. (Oh, and make sure to look for dippers when you're in places like that. Dippers are at least as cool as fireflies.)

Going over to the eastern side of the mountains. You can escape the rain and find some sun, smell sagebrush, see different birds and different colors.

I hated the rain at first but eventually I stopped caring about it. I think it helped that I had a job for a few years that forced me to be out in it, sometimes all day long, and also I had a high-energy dog who needed a good long walk every day, so I'd have to go out and walk at least 3 or 4 miles no matter what the weather was. I just got used to it.
posted by Redstart at 12:25 PM on April 4, 2019

Kubota garden during leaf color change in fall is especially epic.
UW cherry blossom bloom
Temperate rainforest is awesome
Tide pools yay
Walking around in rain is much more fun if yummy hot chocolate happens at the end :)
posted by PistachioRoux at 12:31 PM on April 4, 2019

There is crisp fall air here, usually mid-Oct is the beginning of that. My lot is carpeted in wood sorrel, native violets, trilliums right now - very dramatically different from a month ago (when, honestly, it was still snowing, so maybe seek out elevation on that front?). Go higher up to get a tree if snow makes that special for you. Buy a sweet gum tree or other tree with bright fall foliage. Spring with cold mornings and showers - and sun in between them, and things glistening from raindrops and so much green everywhere - is different from sunny, pleasant summer with perfect long days for being out without sticky humidity. Fall is cool nights and the forest changing, mushrooms cropping up and leaves dropping off the deciduous trees, and winter can easily mean snow, not just rain. Pick huckleberries in the mountains. Go to Rainier for wildflowers in July. Go to the coast and storm watch. Pick not just apples but Rainier cherries and blueberries and blackberries. Feed hummingbirds.

You can still go to the Midwest, you know. For Christmas, or a long weekend in summer to chase lightning bugs.

You can get to know the woods here, and dig razor clams or catch steelhead or cutthroat trout or Chinook or Coho. You can go to Cannon Beach, or hike in the Hoh or Quinault rainforests or the Olympics. You can take your kids to see a volcano or four, the big obsidian flows of central Oregon, see the results of the great Missoula flood and the spectacular Columbia Gorge. There are an amazing variety of mosses and lichens and ferns here. Same with conifers - larch, hemlock, cedar, pine, fir, spruce - they’re all different. Watch this and then go feed the elk at Jewell, see the eagles in Klickitat in winter and ospreys in the summer. Hike a glacier or go Dungeness crabbing. Smith Rock is amazing. Visit the high desert; get a condo in Bend if you need a snow fix. Go to Crater Lake or the painted hills. There’s so much to see here, with so many different microclimates. In the end, if you just don’t find this to be home, consider going back.
posted by OneSmartMonkey at 1:18 PM on April 4, 2019 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Some of this is very helpful! And yeah, part of the problem I that my parents moved to the Southwest which means it is now a very climatologically-displaced-feeling Christmas with sunshine and cacti if I want to see my family, and it's prohibitively expensive/difficult to do a New Year's trip to northern Minnesota when I'm already flying to to AZ.
posted by cnidaria at 1:21 PM on April 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

I should add also: your farmer's market and CSAs can help you mark the season. A year-round CSA cycling from brussels and kale and leeks to asparagus and rhubarb is a very clear signal of spring.
I've also done an apple CSA (Queener farm, if you're near PDX) for several years and the shift in flavors and textures as different apples come due is *wonderful*.
posted by janell at 1:22 PM on April 4, 2019

I went the other way (Vancouver to Montreal) almost 20 years ago. Here is what I miss from home:

- Blackberry, salmonberry and huckleberry seasons, but especially blackberry. What I would not do to be able to go blackberry picking and taste berries that actually have some flavour.
- The exact smell of those summer/autumn walks in the woods that Dorinda mentioned
- Beach time in each season. Late summer swimming, fall and spring collecting and building, winter wave watching and walking. Tide pools and catch and release baby crabs.
- Beautiful giant forest slugs during spring hikes
- Cherry blossom time
- Rhododendron and azalea season. Nothing out east can compare to that show.
- The little daisy like weeds that come up in the grass out west
- Long drawn out springs where every type of flower gets a chance to bloom before the next one comes along. In the east it feels like all the bulbs come up at once, then bloom and die in a week.
- Seagulls calling outside my window (admittedly all seasons!)

The rain stinks but of course without it the forest wouldn't have that smell and the rhododendrons would be the puny specimens we have out east. I think having nice, cozy, wind and rain proof clothes out west is a must. Splurge so that you are comfortable when you go outside and don't bother with an umbrella when it rains 24/7 for months, just have jackets with good hoods.
posted by Cuke at 2:31 PM on April 4, 2019 [3 favorites]

Best answer: For the extra credit part - if you are outdoorsy, getting a hat (usually wide brim) that keeps the rain off your head/neck is helpful (you may look like an idiot but you will be a happy one who is able to do things outside). Alternatively, using a buff-type fabric tube to keep rain off the back of your neck can help. Having multiple jackets is important so if one gets wet you have a dry one to put on - I keep a couple on a hanger in my car so I can swap. And read some Robbins?
posted by OneSmartMonkey at 3:38 PM on April 4, 2019

Oh! Another rain tip, if weather allows: I try to wear dresses and rain boots when it rains.

Umbrellas and jackets are terrible at keeping your thighs dry. And pants take forever to dry. So bare legs and changing into dry flats is a relatively painless transition.
posted by politikitty at 3:50 PM on April 4, 2019

I've amassed a collection of nice-quality silk flowers that I have divided into roughly 4 seasonal sets (pastel spring tones with tulips and pansies and daffodils, summer with lots of bright yellow and orange and white daisies, roses, autumn with big sunflowers and chrysanthemums and decorative gourds motherfuckers, and Christmas/winter of mostly reds and whites, with berries and conifer accents). I swap them out in various vases and containers throughout my house. This is maybe more indoor than outdoor like what you seem to be looking for, but we spend a lot of time looking at the insides of our houses and I look forward to these little change-ups to keep things interesting.
posted by drlith at 5:33 PM on April 4, 2019

Your phone probably has a great camera. Document the beauty, large and small, of your new place. It will help you look for and appreciate your new climate.

Christmas and holidays of all types are very connected to seasons, but you can reclaim some of the feeling by playing the music you loved best. And also by embracing the new and making new traditions.

Get good raingear so you're warm and then accept being wet. That's why sandals like Tevas are so popular, and fleece. Clothing that dries quickly and keeps you warm even when wet.
posted by theora55 at 5:34 PM on April 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

Do you know about thimbleberries in the PNW?

I love the taste, though not everyone does. Still, they're something specific shared between the PNW and the Great Lakes, and they always remind me of home in the Iron Range.
posted by Laetiporus at 8:09 AM on April 5, 2019

And yeah, part of the problem I that my parents moved to the Southwest which means it is now a very climatologically-displaced-feeling Christmas with sunshine and cacti if I want to see my family,

Yeah, my parents now spend the winters in Florida and I do not like Christmas in a warm climate! My family has started coming here some years (it helps that my SIL's family is here) and that's actually made me appreciate winter here more!
posted by lunasol at 12:48 PM on April 5, 2019