Punxsutawney Phil Sees Shadow, Predicts Six More Weeks of Winter
Well, sometimes writer's block sets in and you have to take suggestions from your audience. So thanks, JL, for throwing this one at me. The fact is, I've had a fascination with Groundhog Day since I was a kid. My father's birthday and Groundhog Day fall within a few days of each other so that piqued my interest. Also, as an animal lover, I was entranced by a groundhog who could predict the weather.
I was always a logical kid, but I also loved ritual and the yearly showing of the enormous rodent was fun to me. I never understood the idea of his shadow being the predictor since I always figured they'd brought him out in broad daylight and of course he'd see a shadow. Which made me always suspect that the whole thing was just a fun way to tell you that you were going to freeze your ass off for the next six weeks, no matter what.
It wasn't lost on me, either, that the whole thing took place in Pennsylvania, in the same state I lived in, but in a whole other world. I'm sure the last thing my parents wanted to do was take a 270 mile road trip in the middle of winter to watch a just-awakened groundhog tell us all what we already knew. But the idea that it was happening in my home state was another source of pride for me.
So Punxsutawney Phil was dragged out of his hole again today and predicted another six weeks of winter. This means nothing to me now in Southern California. It was a gorgeous 70 degrees today, which we enjoyed by eating our breakfast on our porch at our bistro table.
The closest thing I have to a groundhog here in LA is a 13 pound black cat who predicted a certain chill in feline-human relations today by hiding behind the couch for 8 hours straight.
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