{"id":7994,"date":"2021-03-15T09:42:48","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T14:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/?p=7994"},"modified":"2021-05-05T12:22:50","modified_gmt":"2021-05-05T17:22:50","slug":"this-time-of-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2021\/03\/15\/this-time-of-year\/","title":{"rendered":"This Time of Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This time of year is usually when a friend and I plan our annual writing retreat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We didn’t go anywhere last spring because…well…a worldwide pandemic kinda got in the way. And while my friend (who quit corporate life to become a nurse) is vaccinated and I get the first round tomorrow, it’s still not likely we’ll do the annual writing retreat this spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it’s definitely crossed my mind…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spring in Texas<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I was born in Chicago and raised north of the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I moved to Texas in the summer of 1984, when I was fifteen. (A word of advice: never <\/em>move in Texas during its hottest month.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I missed summers up north. I came to miss winters as well (I always loved getting out on snowy days). And I definitely missed fall up north, where it actually looked, felt, and smelled like autumn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this time of the year is a magical time in Texas. Each March, I’m amazed how quickly spring happens down here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In high school, I was fortunate to have a best friend whose father loved skiing. So, for spring break, I was invited along on skiing trips to Colorado. And I was always awestruck how it seemed we left on a warm day that could have been any other warmer-than-usual day during Texas winter and…returned to that time Texas is actually green and lush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one short week, spring arrived!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spring Retreating<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My friend and I have always talked about doing a retreat later in the year, but even October can find days hovering in the mid-90s in Texas. And so, we usually head to East Texas when everything is green and warm, but rarely too hot to get outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the weather, there’s something refreshing about writing before the heat of summer arrives and beats everything down. For a short time each spring, Texas seems like a otherworldly place conducive to sitting at a table across from a good friend…and writing all day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Need a break? Leave the cabin and wander hiking trails, letting your subconscious figure things out while hiking through the Pineywoods. Sure, the “Mountain Trail” in Daingerfield State Park is anything but a mountain, but it’s a big enough climb that one is always greeted by a nice breeze at the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This Year<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I don’t know when (or even if) the annual writing retreat will resume this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the first dose of the vaccine tomorrow, the second dose will come in mid April. That means a couple weeks after that, I could spend time in the company of another vaccinated person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which means…it’s quite tempting to book a cabin in East Texas for the first or second weekend in May and continue a favorite tradition before Texas turns mean and slams the state with heat…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This time of year is usually when a friend and I plan our annual writing retreat. We didn’t go anywhere last spring because…well…a worldwide pandemic kinda got in the way. And while my friend (who quit corporate life to become a nurse) is vaccinated and I get the first round tomorrow, it’s still not likely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7994"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7994"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8022,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7994\/revisions\/8022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}