The City Mouse and the Country Mouse

Today, in the middle of a pretty intense game of Predator Prey (a HUGE tag game), one of my students turned to me and asked why there were no houses in Wisconsin, and only farms. She asked this after looking across the county road and seeing a large population of cows. She said that in Minnesota, she always saw only rows of houses, and why wasn't Wisconsin like that too?

Right there, in the middle of the game, I found an opportunity to tell her that there are actually houses on the farm, but the people have so much land that you can't always see them, and that their neighbors are on the plot next door too, but the houses just aren't as crowded. I felt that explaining that Wisconsin also has cities and that just down the road there is an apartment complex as well was important, while pointing out that there is quite a bit of farmland in Minnesota as well.

It seems a bit impressive (not necessarily in the positive way) that a child can go through ten years of life and say that they'd like to take a picture of a farm because they've never seen anything like it before. But then again, how impressive it is upon me that I am able to bring some light to the situation.

I never cease to have those moments where I realize that there is an amazing amount of positive effect that comes from what I teach, whether its seen right there in front of me, or just an residual effect.

Simplicity

Outdoor survival says you need food, water, air, shelter and a positive mental attitude. One can break that down in many ways, but it all boils down to the same thing: All the extra is not necessary.

I lived in Thailand for nearly a month in a village with few comforts as we know them. In America, when you ask children what "thneeds" they have in their lives (as taken from the Dr. Suess book called "The Lorax") they will mention things like multiple televisions, PS2's, XBox 360's and even cell phones (these kids are 10-11 years of age). I did not ask the children of Nayao Village what theirs might be, but I would imagine they may have answers that would challenge our very way of life here in the cushy U.S. of A.

Speaking of The Lorax, I came across this rebuttal to the book by the logging industry that I found to be rather interesting.

How lucky we are to have things like chairs with cushions and brand new clothes of any kind that we did not have to make ourselves. Let alone that the majority of us do not have to work to support our families at the age of 13. Even the poorest of our nation have so much more than the richest in a village like Nayao.

Take myself for example. To American standards, I do not live very highly on the economic scale. I live at my job in a 100 year-old farmhouse that is consistently inhabited by box elder bugs and mice. I do, however, make a living that is supporting me in what I need, comfortable things to sit and sleep on, a computer, a cell phone, access and the means to obtain any reasonable goods I could need. The luxury of eating out in restaurants and going out with friends for a drink. The ability to go out to concerts, a running vehicle, the right to vote, a safe atmosphere, plenty of food, a good education...the list of luck goes on and on.

Now one can argue that what makes me happy may not coincide with what makes the villagers of Nayao happy, and there is certainly truth to this. The major fact though, is that I have all the basic necessitites of life, and do not struggle for them. In addition to this, I ALSO have access to things that do enrich my life, regardless of what those are.

Simplicity seems to be much more simple to acheive than we seem to realize. Yet here I am typing on my personal computer in my cozy bedroom...it's only fair to recognize.

A little sprinkle for the drought

Whew! It's been quite some time since I've written in general and even longer since I've continued on with my Thailand journey. I promise to continue with more pictures and stories from over seas very soon.

On a sad note for me, I did not get accepted to work in Africa as I had so hoped. This will, however, allow me more time and dedication to what I've been training for.

These past two weeks I have been fortunate enough to be included in the RESTORE program through the Earth Partnership For Schools. This included a two week training in Madision, Wisconsin. The information (and there was a lot) will be enough to get me started on restoring some prairie at a nearby school, and working my environmental education skills with the students there on a somewhat regular basis. How regular? That all depends on a meeting that is happening with the principal in about twenty minutes from the time that I am writing this.

So what did we DO for two weeks? We learned alot about plant identification, took some field trips to schools to see what they've already done with the program and played like kids in the prairie. It was great. We even got to see Aldo Leopold's shack, meet his daughter Nina, and get a tour of the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center. In case you are wondering who this man is, he's the author of the book "A Sand County Almanac", and a legend in the world of phenology. He's kind of a big deal here in Wisconsin, and especially in that area, since that's where he lived and wrote the book. I read this book back in my first years of college and had no idea how much potential it had at the time. I don't think I was old enough to fully appreciate it.

Here's somewhat of a chronology of pictures. The main piece of the institute took place at the UW Madison Arboretum. We spent some time in the Greene field, and it was absolutely beautiful. I couldn't get over all the prairie plants they have there with which I was not previously familiar.








And here was our guide for much of the time, Walt. He was amazing! He knows so much about prairies and particular types of plants. He was such a feisty old guy. He's in his 70's now and still a naturalist at the Arboretum. What a guy. I really liked talking with him, but wasn't so fond of his driving...I guess the other employees at the Arboretum weren't either. Apparently he's not allowed to back up anymore...ha ha. I can't imagine anyone not loving this guy. The second week we had choices of what classes we wanted to do, and I of course chose his soil infiltration class. I think it will actually be rather helpful in the future, and man it was fun. You're a good guy, Walt.

We went out insect collecting one day while studying entomology in the prairie (you know I'm a nerd like that anyway) and found all sorts of interesting things. No way is this stuff just for kids, I'll do all the lessons myself! And I wasn't alone. Meet Mike, the teacher I'll be working with.



Note the child-like trance. This was rather common throughout the weeks of training, but this moment was particularly notable. We had done a sweep of insects to see if there was more biodiversity in the prairie or a manicured lawn. The results are less important that what we found. This moth larva (a lepidopteran) was quite possibly the coolest thing any of us had ever seen, or so it would seem. We did experiments with him to see if he liked to sit low down or high up, what colors he liked to be around the most, and to see if he would always hold his body out so straight like that. He looked exactly like a stick.

Note that he hangs out straight over the paper. We didn't just get that picture in mid stretch, that was how he stayed all the time. No wonder I teach kids about nature.



Later the same day we went to the Leopold shack. We were lucky enough to hear stories about the life of his family straight from his 92 year-old daughter, Nina. She is pretty awesome, and not in the slang sense. She is still keeping track of the phenology there and giving talks to groups like us. She is helped by Aldo's great-grandson (I'm not sure if this is her grandson) who is studying to do just what Aldo did, under the program that Aldo himself set up at UW Madison. Crazy that he should need to even go through all that growing up in that family the way he did.














We ended the session by planting some flowers, grasses and sedges. It was great to end it full circle, and to help the Arboretum out a little as well. Now there is a lot of work to be done over the next year, but it's all exciting and holds quite a bit of possibility if we work hard and let it happen as it needs to.

I'll end this posting with my favorite picture from the trip. This is a lightening bug sitting on a bergamont flower (also known as bee balm). Enjoy.

A brief update-Life is Good.

I take a break from this Thailand series to get out of the past and back to the future.

Since I've been back, I've been adjusting to no rice, and finally feel like my stomach is happy again, two weeks later. Yay! I've been busy, keeping up with friends, and starting two of the three jobs I will have for the summer.

When I got back, I went to a dinner of a huge cheeseburger with a friend and got to see her new place, went to a concert involving Jack Johnson and Mason Jennings. Took some great pics and videos of course. Here are some of Mason:

I know, I know, they are shaky, but you try being elbowed, getting excited about the music and avoiding the heads of all those people being in your shot at the same time.

This past weekend, I continued to catch up with friends I haven't seen in months, and am really just missing my family. I haven't seen them in months either and while I would love to go home for the 4th of July, I have to work, and was unable to work around it. Trust me, I tried.

Work has been great, other than driving for nearly 18 hours straight, thanks to the debacle of losing two backpacks on the road somewhere between Gooseberry Falls and Two Harbors, MN. Note that by the time we had discovered it, we were 3 1/2 hours away, in Wisconsin, and roughly 5 hours further along in the trip. So I look at it this way: I've already gotten the crazy trip where things go wrong out of the way, and now I'm golden for the rest of the summer.

For the summer, I'll be working quite a bit, getting ready to teach again in the fall (I can not wait) and next week, I have an interview to go to Africa and teach EE there, with elephants. I should probably not have my hopes up as much as I do, but simply can't contain myself when it comes to this. I'll post if I get it or not when I find out. It would probably be the peak of my entire career, in my opinion, and I won't even be getting paid. The temporary sacrifice is more than worth the experience.

Another update on the fall season is that I just got asked to be the representative from my place of employment for the RESTORE program for the Earth Partnership for Schools (EPS). What an honor! I will be collaborating with two teachers from a new school across the street to build a curriculum concerning wilderness restoration. The goals in doing this are that it is interactive, interdisciplinary and involves the community. I'm so grateful for their willingness to help me do this, as it is difficult to be at the two week long training when I am balancing three schedules. But considering the longevity of the program, it's well worth it, and I feel good. I feel trusted, supported and very up for the responsibility.

Tonight, I am deliriously tired, but am excited to blog about Thailand, so I am adding just a couple pictures and a quick note.

I obviously made it back alive, and would have loved to have blogged all along, but there was little to no guarantee that I would have access at any given time, and didn't more often than not. I did, however, have plenty of access to my camera, and have documented things in great detail.



For now, I add a picture of the streets of Bangkok from our first weekend and a picture of Rebecca and I hanging out at the Grand Palace, the King's palace. Thailand is amazing, and already I miss it. I miss all the cultural beauty and different people and attitudes. I do not, however, miss the rice.

Tonight, I spend my time recovering from the flight, eating American food again, and resting. I am happy just doing that. I will be adding so much to this blog soon, and can't wait to share it.

One more week

As the days pass, I can't believe Thailand is so close now. In one week and 4 hours, I will be boarding a plane to Tokyo, and then to Thailand. I wonder how the students will be, what they will think of me, if they will have a lot of questions or keep them to themselves. I wonder how my observations will go, if I'll be able to get all that I need for my research and how I will feel about the culture. I can't imagine right now, being completely immersed in the American lifestyle as I am. Preparation for the trip has proven to be tricky, but with 80% or so of everything done that needs to be done, I'm beginning to breathe again.

In the meantime, I teach. Earlier this week, I had another wonderful group that I will remember. I find that some groups simply don't stick in my head, as bad as that sounds, and there are some that I know that I will never forget. This was one of them. I only wish that I had a picture to post, but there are rules against things like that.

This past week I had a girl who will remain nameless that has Triple X syndrome. No one mentioned that before my teaching began, but it was obvious that something was different, and my first thought was Aspergers. Luckily her mother was there to help with tips for me and to ease the transition for her daughter. She mentioned it to me near the beginning and said that I probably had never heard of it, but listed some symptoms I should know about. Little did she know I took genetics in college and actually did know what it is, somewhat. All worked out very well that first day and the group seemed great overall.

At the end of the day, I had a chat with her mom after a very difficult 20 minutes of journaling. She explained that her daughter normally would have had three meltdowns in that time, but seems to do much better in a natural setting. I instantly was brought back to two books that I have been reading in my own quest to study how children do better in nature in general, and suggested for her to read Last Child in the Woods and The Geography of Childhood. Both books talk about natural settings putting children at ease who have attention deficit disorders. None specifically about Triple X, but still, worth the while. I was particularly brought back to a paragraph in the former book that discusses how one set of parents actually moved to the mountains for the betterment of their son.

It seemed like fate, because the book I ordered from Amazon came in the mail that night (Last Child). I couldn't resist simply giving that copy to her and getting my own again later. I wrote it out to the girl and made a comment about getting outside as much as possible, as encouragement to her to follow her mother's advice. I was greeted not long after with a huge hug from the girl. :)

Environmental education finds yet another way to make a positive impact on lives, and I find more ways to help people. It was a good week.

All the little things

So there's this application on Facebook, not sure if it works or not, but thought I'd try the "On The Go" version and post it here. Supposedly, you can save the rain forest while using it, and people clicking on this icon can do more of the same.

It's worth a shot.

It's been quite the crazy week. I recently found out that I will get to teach at the school of my choice in Thailand, and am finally registered for the class and have even paid my deposit. I'm set and ready to pack! I'll take videos, pictures and keep an extensive journal on those travels in order to completely document it out there. It will also be a large part of my research for the finishing of my Master's degree. And then I can truly call myself an Environmental Educator and feel good about it.

This environmental educator is sure of her career choice

Each day that I teach, I learn more about myself, and how to interact with my students. This weekend was far from exception. The girls that I taught this week were strong, powerful ones with so much ahead of them in their future. They taught me the importance of connecting.

Today I ended a three day EE program with a group of Girl Scouts from St. Paul. I have to say, I began the weekend in a state of mind that lead me to feel as if I needed a day off, and this weekend seemed fun, but also seemed as if it could be a little draining. The girls seemed fun enough and were all energetic and well-behaved, I just wasn't sure how much energy I was going to have. I began teaching on Saturday morning already exhausted even after a full night's sleep and felt instantly rushed. This feeling remained throughout the entire day. I was teaching many classes and had less than feasible amounts of time in which to do it. I was having fun, but found myself getting frustrated at the same time with the constant time crunch.

On the other hand, these girls were very knowledgeable and inquisitive. I was very excited about the conversations we were able to have. They all had very interesting questions which allowed me to give them more information than I would give the average group. This happens to be my favorite type of teaching moment. I only wish there had been more time for that. I especially was grateful for the excellent conversation we ended up having on the man made water cycle. One of these days, I will blog about that. That great conversation ended when we got into the possibility of drinking Jesus's pee...you don't want to know. I just let the conversation wander with good information until this point...

On the completely unrelated note of teaching methods, it feels good when you get a group that doesn't need all the extra props in order to learn effectively. It's always good to throw a game or two in there, and to keep them active, but when you can keep them that engaged and learning just by sitting in a chair and asking questions... It's one of those things I live for. It makes me think that maybe I should be working with somewhat older kids. I might be able to have more impact. The maturity level of the students that comes with those who are purely entertained for 45 minutes at a time (you can see that they are genuinely not bored) is not all that common in younger students. Unfortunately, I find that it is more common in students who are more economically fortunate. What then, about those who are not? I think maybe that it's time to give them the credit of NOT assuming they will need the extra props all the time and try that conversation out on them. I'm certainly not saying that all kids learn through simple conversation, but how will you ever know if you're always trying to entertain them with media and games rather than teach them?


Anyway, back to the Girl Scouts. So we ended the night with Owls and got into a discussion about adaptations of all kinds of animals based on the owl adaptations. They ended up learning that many dog species are not necessarily natural and that many are bred to what humans see as helpful to THEM, not to the dogs. Hence the ridiculous (but cute) ears on the basset hound.

I came back in the morning to set up and grab a bit of breakfast, and found that my group had not yet made it to breakfast 15 minutes after they should have been. I went to see what was going on, and it turned out they were handling a sad situation. A few other groups were there, and it turns out that some felt it would be a good idea to eat the snacks that my group had left in their room. I felt pretty horrible but wasn't sure what to do other than contact my boss. It was a little disheartening that this happened. You would think you would be safe and able to trust those who are on camp. In our case that was not true, but it ended happily, which is why I chose to even include it in this entry. The three young men who had taken the goods were mature enough to step up and apologize for exactly what they had done individually. It takes courage to face those who may be looking at you negatively and try to make it right. I never did meet those boys myself, but I'm proud of them, regardless. They did the right thing, and I'm absolutely positive that it will be a lesson they won't soon forget, and may even help them to become better leaders themselves, after having handled it so well.

Once our kitchen staff helped by making my group some special hot chocolate for breakfast, they were in much better spirits. I also made a point to let them know that I had looked up all the questions I promised that I would and gave them those answers as well. They were instantly cheery again. :)

What did they want to know? They had and array of questions like:

• What is the larger part (turns out to be the clitellum) of a worm?
• Why is the St. Croix River so wide where we are?
• How EXACTLY do fish breathe?

Why the worm question? It was misting outside on the first morning, and there were quite a few worms under foot!

Once all was sorted out, we finally got back to class, which now had been cut even shorter than it already was. We skimmed through Minimal impact, but had yet another great discussion on what environmental problems there are in the world, and what the solutions were. I absolutely needed to make sure that this class became a positive, not only because morale was a little low based on last night's events, but also because I had watched a National Geographic special the night before that was possibly the most depressing environmental movie I have ever seen in my life. It made me feel like the only solution was to wipe my horrible human self off the planet. I, of course, have no actual inclination to do such a thing, but one can see how helpful that morbid solution would be after watching this movie.

So that entire class basically consisted of them giving me solutions to what they saw as problems. Ones that THEY could do. Solutions are not just for adults. I always feel that this is important to stress. Empowerment is key.

The day ended with Aquatic Ecology, and I couldn't have been happier. We spent most of that time digging in the pod for macro invertebrates. When I noticed that some just weren't digging in the muck, and therefore weren't finding anything, I incorporated a...well, declaration.

I loudly stated that I was not afraid to get my hands dirty, and ran my finger in some nearby pond mud, making sufficiently dirty marks on each cheek. "If you are not afraid to get your hands dirty either, be a warrior with me!" Each and every girl became a warrior, even the one who had made the earlier statement that she was "someone who liked to keep clean". In fact, it was this girl who later said, "I need more mud!", just before she added another scoop to her cheeks. I couldn't have been prouder of them.

We then talked about their best moment, their worst, and what they looked forward to (aka rose, thorn and bud). It was a very positive ending. I sat with them for lunch as well, and was asked to fill out a questionaire...something about coke or pepsi in the title? I wasn't really sure what I was doing, but did it anyway. It was somewhat of a personality test anyway, in kid terms. I left to take care of some business, and when I came back, I was informed that they had given me a 99 out of 5 (!) on the survey done by them about my teaching.

They also honored me with some other goodies I couldn't help but feel pretty good about. The connections I will soon have to Thailand were very interesting to them, and they have now asked if I would keep them updated on my travels, as well as to try to set up a pen pal system between the kids I will work with there and the ones I had this weekend. What a cool idea! One of the GS leaders also asked me if I would do a presentation about my teaching at their school. If that wasn't flattering enough, the girls also informed me that they have to do a cultural table each year at a Festival, and they chose (you guessed it) Thailand! I plan on getting them a really cool souvenir for their display, and as much information as I can. I am completely honored, and see sooo much potential in these girls.

This weekend was, for the most part, an Environmental Educator's dream. I will now get to have a lasting connection and influence. This doesn't happen as often as you would think in my field based on child protection systems. It is completely up to the adults acting as liaisons to other adults acting as liaisons in order to keep in contact with kids now a days, and you can't just go writing them letters directly, no matter how angelic your intentions may be. I feel very lucky to have that opportunity, even if it is only seven girls. Those seven will hopefully carry on what I've given them. That's the best I can hope for, and it certainly becomes much more likely if I am able to continue my education beyond a two and half day period.

I end this day feeling at peace and energized for upcoming groups. I hope that if anyone else reading this is also in EE, they remember, like I did this weekend, that their most powerful tool is connecting with people on a personal level. You and your influence will less likely stick if you are spouting facts and dissociating your SELF from them. In the last couple of weeks, I have learned the importance of networking. I say this not just in terms of my career, but in terms of my soul.

Earth Day

In my life, there were two Earth Days, although my good friend Derek makes an excellent point, every day should be Earth Day. He also mentions that a black background on whatever website it is that your screen is loading takes less energy than does white. This is something I didn't know. I was even a little skeptical, but looked it up, found a post about it at EcoIron, and even a reference to that:

http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2007/05/09/can-a-black-google-save-energy/

Who knew?

My first Earth Day revolved around The Lorax. We hosted a huge Earth Day at our camp, and had over 500 people! It was a record year, as we were expecting between 100 and 400.

As you can see above, Brian had a grand time holding down the Orienteering fort. Kids were able to check out the camp with a map and compass to pass the time. Fortunately for them, there was a lot of water around, because it was scorching in the 70's! Yay!

It was then time to set up the Lorax! We would been able to keep right on smiling like this, but about halfway through this wonderful puppet show, half the set fell over, just inches from the faces of very small children. You see the middle peace with the water, and the red piece with the clock pictured below and to the right? And see how there is a metal pipe coming off the the top? That just happened to be what hit the closest. Holy cow! It was exactly like a dramatic scene from a movie, and I wish so much that someone had video taped it.

I can talk about how funny it was only because no one got hurt. You see, the backdrop in the center is painted canvas. Halfway through, we are supposed to flip that canvas over so you see the other side. Because none of us are tall enough to do this, even while standing on chairs, Carmen and I were using the wooden axes to extend our reach and flip it over. The trick to this is that we generally do this play inside-note the terrain difference. The pushing from one side was apparently too much, and we barely knew what hit us. It was already halfway down before it occurred to me what was happening, and we all watched in horror as it fell.

The audience was composed of very little children-mostly toddler age and up, but not what we're used to. They must have thought that it was supposed to happen, because even as the sed came crashing down right in front of some of their noses and the dirt and leaves flew up over them with an official thud of the set, none of them flinched. Not even the littlest ones, and not even the parents in the background. It's a miracle no one was mad.

Meanwhile, we were all left exposed behind what was left of the set, Carmen and I still standing on chairs with axes raised, in disbelief. We all felt much like the Wizard of Oz must have when the curtain was pulled and all his secrets were revealed, only we had nearly taken out many toddlers in the process.

Our Assistant Director was there, and thank God she has a good sense of humor. What else were we to do? We set up the set again as quickly as we could with the help of one dad, and I, as the narrator, went out to say a few words. I remember apologizing and explaining that we generally do this on flat ground, but I can't remember anything after that, although I was told that I handled it well.

My second Earth Day also involved The Lorax, but it was not quite as unexpectedly eventful as the first. This one was also done outdoors. I don't think the Lorax has ever gotten so much fresh air.

This one was different. We created as mystery called The Mystery of the Missing Lorax as a way to attract new schools through this free outreach program. With the Lorax set as the main backdrop, we set up stations for each of the "suspects" to both teach a mini lesson and give clues to the 5th graders, leaving it up to them to decide who dun it.

As we set up the set, we are careful not to let it go anywhere!

Will's station (He was Gustav) was set up to teach about the life of a Voyageur. He has a great French accent and a wonderful way of scaring children into believing that we kill animals for their furs and nothing else. This, of course, is not true, but fourth graders completely believe a big guy with a lot of furs, apparently.

Below, you will see Carmen's station. She was the Barbaloot Liason, because, come on, Barbaloots and humans don't speak the same language you know!
















What does a Barbaloot look like, you might ask? And what, praytell, does B.U.R.P. stand for?

This is a Barbaloot, and he is a Barbaloot Under Rural Protection. Keep an eye out for official human-sized T-shirts to be made soon.



Matthew played the role of a totally righteous camper, Mr. E. Dude, and taught about outdoor survival before giving up all the secrets of his clues.


I was Tori Taxonomy, trying to get all the animals classified, but then there's that Lorax, and where does he fit in? I think they thought I was completely and totally crazy. I guess my plan worked well. :)And then there was Brian, who played the Onceler Detective. He looked really official.

And who was all this commotion about? What is the Lorax? Describe him, that's hard. I'll just show you the mugshot:
What happened to the Lorax? Nobody knows. I guess you'll just have to come see our presentation to find out which one of the suspects could take such an adorable animal from the Trufulla Forest.

As I like to say, do at least one thing. For the community, the earth, human kind, animals, the air, the water, just anything. We are all part of the Earth. It could be once a week, month, day, year, but just do one thing.

Happy Earth Day.

Time

It would seem that in life, timing is everything. A match of one's personal or professional life totally depends not only on the content of yourself but also of the receiving end. I may think I'm perfect for a job, but find that it's not at all working for me simply based on the fact that it wasn't the right time for them. I've been finding this quite a bit in my recent job hunt, but am not deterred. I know the job is out there that is just right for me, and is also a great match for them, and I don't believe I should settle for anything less.

I find the EE field to be a tough one. If you're knowledgeable on the material at hand, you'll be just fine. How then, can you become credible in the landscape of another region if you aren't allowed the opportunity to teach it? Sometimes, it's all about who you know. EE is truly no exception.

I cringe at even writing this, as I don't want to set myself up for emotional failure, but am too excited not to share it with friends. I am applying for a job in Africa with the Living With Elephants Foundation. This job is really everything I've ever wanted, and possibly more. It's elephants, it's EE, it's with kids, it's volunteer, it's a coordinator position....and if you know me well enough, you'll look at that and say THAT'S Jolén. Keep your fingers crossed for me, I've got my hopes pretty high on this one, hopefully not too high.

What have I been up to? Well, I went canoing today, the very first day that the ice was completely off the water in the river.

I'm happy to say, we're probably the first ones to get out there. What other job can you just step out and go out on the water on a whim? Not many. There are certainly perks to living the life I do. We saw many many eagles soaring overhead, and even a large family of loons floating down the river. I'm sorry to say that with my poor steering abilities, we scared them off.

In the near future, I look forward to hanging out with old friends I haven't seen in a long time, having bonfires with current friends, and being outdoors as much as I can stand it. :) I guess I'll get quite a bit of that tomorrow with my job, and look forward to the possibility of going jacketless again. I've truly missed the warm weather, the smell of spring and the fresh air that DOESN'T sting to breath in because of being too cold.

Welcome, spring.