We are thigh-deep in the middle of a very wintry winter. This is the most appropriate time to reflect on how long it has been since the autumn leaves fell, and how much longer we will wait until the spring blossoms appear.

While the rest of the country is shoveling snow, we have had unseasonably warm temperatures out west. The daffodils are blooming in my garden, and the fall lettuce is growing again. Living in California gives you a distorted sense of the seasons.

Here you can find winter in summer, hanging on a foggy day in San Francisco or crunching through an early snow in the Sierra Nevada. Summer in winter is bursting forth on the beaches of San Diego. Whatever your favorite temperature is, you can find it here during any season of the year.

So what does mid-winter mean to a California native? Sun, wind, rain, fog, snow, ice, and having to mow the lawn.