What Do You People Talk About?

This morning I got up while it was dark, checked my phone -- no cancellation message, drat -- and suited up.  I put on SmartWool socks, medium thickness, a medium weight pair of capilene long underwear, warm cross-country skiing training pants, and a gore-tex windpant.  On my upper body I wore a cotton undershirt, a capilene layer, a fleece hoody, and a windbreaker.  Gloves, scarf, hat.  

Met my walking pal for a walk.  It was still dark when we started.  The path was mostly clear, with some crunchy ice patches.  It was 21 degrees, but the wind was fierce -- about 20 miles an hour -- and so it felt cold. I was warm enough, mostly, because I did a good job getting dressed.  

We spent the first 10 minutes of our walk chatting happily about what we were wearing.  Getting dressed for the cold, what you choose and whether it works or not, is almost always an interesting conversation here.  I should have worn a balaclava, because my face was pinchy-cold, and my ears really started to sing with discomfort.  My friend chose down, and we discussed that for a while.  Down is rarely a good choice if you're active at all -- it is too warm for real activity, you end up hot. Indeed, my friend took off her gloves sooner than I did.  

Anyway, I thought about you, over there in Sacramento, and I really wondered: what's the California equivalent of conversations about outerwear?  In Maine you can almost always talk about it: waterproofness, warmth, weight, smelliness, cost. Getting dressed right is hard, and you can never have enough information about how to do it better.  Do you guys talk about wicking and breathability?  Do you talk about irrigation and water conservation?  What does everyone talk about if not how to stay warm?  

Comments

[JRoth]

Near as I can tell, it's just an endless stream of conversation about how awesome California is. Like, how awesome the sunlight is, and the air temp, and the humidity levels, and the cold, unpleasant Augusts (which are awesome), and the topography, and the people, and the cetera.

[Vpynchon]

Traffic! Vickie from Sunny LA where the seasons are summer, fire, rain and landslide.

[margie]

We talk about our winter gardens of course! Peas and chard and broccoli and garlic. And of course, we discuss whether we need to cover the citrus to protect it from the frost.