Here today, gone tomorrow

[jhetley]

There's an old Maine joke, this flatlander is up on a "foliage" tour in the fall and asks a Native,

"What do you folks do in the summer around here?"

"Well, if it comes on a weekend, we usually try to have a picnic."

83 F today, forecast for 63 F tomorrow, and 50s later in the week. 

Comments

[ellarien]

There are rather similar jokes about the British summer, which is usually considered to last about a week. (First day of summer: June 21st. Midsummer's day: June 24th.)

[silme.livejournal.com]

There are jokes like that about the British summer. One day of warm, sunny weather, well that's it -- hope you enjoyed it. Unfortunately, we're now having horribly hot summers all the time, it seems. We've been having quite a heat wave recently: warm, sunny days. Today it's grey and sprinkling rain a little -- the first rainfall in several weeks.

I laughed at your post initially because I used to live in Colorado, where a native of Maine would be considered a flatlander. Pretty much anyone from outside of Nepal, Switzerland and parts of Alaska are considered flatlanders there, though. ;)

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Not being a Native, I have never understood where the designation "flatlander" originated. "From away" makes sense.

[silme.livejournal.com]

Ah. Coloradans consider flatlanders to be anyone who lives below 5,000 feet in altitude. And to those in the mountains (5,000 feet isn't a mountain :), it's more like anyone who lives below 7,500 feet. ;) (It's not a mountain in Colorado if it's below 10,000 feet.)

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Whereas the high point in Maine is a little over 5000 ft. New England mountains _do_ qualify as nasty places on any scale, with Mt. Washington posting 100+ mph winds on a regular basis and clocking over 200 on occasion.

The funny thing about that "flatlander" label is that few people in Maine actually live in the "mountains" -- not hospitable house lots or farms, what with no soil covering the granite and all. Most of them wouldn't support a goat.

[silme.livejournal.com]

And Colorado has 54 mountains over 14,000 feet. :) Again, not many people live that high. The 'highest' real town is Leadville, at over 10,000 feet. Runners like to train there. You will find cabins and individual homes at higher elevations, of course.

I now in southern England, which is very much flat land. I like visiting Wales and Scotland and wandering in their foothills (er, mountains ;).