In Memoriam: The Redbud and The Needlessness of an Umbrella

About two weeks ago, I was trying to think of wonderful reasons to live in Oklahoma, and I came up with a few good ones. On one particularly annoying Monday morning (the one after spring break--that one's always rough), while walking in to work, I almost ran into a red bud tree. I was bothered, because I always almost run into this tree--it's sort of hanging over the steps into the engineering building. But this day, I realized that it had just become spring, and the Redbud was budding! It had sprouted all these little, well, red buds all over, and it was gorgeous. I was instantly happier, due to the redish-purple scenery all around me as I hopped down the engineering building steps. The tree hung down over the steps in a sort of weeping willow fashion which is not common for the Redbud. I then added to my list of awesome things about Oklahoma the fact that we have redbuds everywhere. They really like growing here, I guess, plus they also look spectacular, so we plant them pretty much everywhere:

Now, that's not the redbud I usually run into on my way into work (though it is on the way to work, I don't physically run into it . . .). I was meaning to take a picture of specifically that one, but I never seemed to remember in time to pull out my camera. This morning, as I was walking into work again in a bad mood, I looked up at the engineering steps and saw no redbud. They had cut it down. I assume this was because the weeping willow fashion of hanging branches not common to the Redbud that made this particular tree so interesting (especially in contrast with the engineering building . . .) was due to the crazy ice storm we had in November. It pretty much ruined a good percentage of the trees in Oklahoma (seriously, I would guess around 95% of the trees in our area and the Oklahoma city area were damaged) bending and breaking branches on nearly every tree--even little ones! I was pretty sad about this negative development in my excursion to work every morning, but I was also reminded of another item I'd been meaning to add to my list of things that make Oklahoma awesome. The weather!

People always seem to be interested in Oklahoma when they talk with me. Maybe it's because I tend to place emphasis on the fact that I am from that state when I am on the coasts or in Europe. People ask me what is fun to do there, why I like it so much, and if they visited me there, what we would do. I've thought about it, and I've come up with some pretty great stuff, but my favorite part of Oklahoma is the weather, and that is certainly hard to plan a trip around. The best thing you can do is come down for a week in the Spring or early Summer and . . . do a rain dance. If you take a look at this picture, that's not a pretty blue sky you're seeing, those are solid, mean thunderstorm clouds.

My pictures of thunderstorms are obviously not as good as the experts, so if you are unconvinced, you should check these out. And basically anything here. Though, the radar snapshots aren't really any fun. The National Weather Service is actually based in Norman, OK, because most crazy weather (other than, say, tropical storms) happens here. In fact, I'm about 10 miles south of the town that infamously gets hit by tornadoes all the time. Reassuring, I know!

I tried to explain to the folks I met in Boston that the 'rain' there wasn't really Rain. It was what we in Oklahoma like to call umbrella?-what-for? drizzle and sometimes when it was 'really' coming down . . . light showers. I tried to explain that thunder that sounds like some Yankee fanatic may have set off a small nuclear device in Fenway park was actually a sound that sometimes puts me to sleep at night. I tried to explain that I love sitting with the windows open or outside during a storm and just chilling, and that my dad actually got on our roof in order to film a wall cloud becoming a tornado, and that in high school my boyfriend dreamt of becoming a storm chaser.

It's always easier to demonstrate than explain (I shouldn't say always easier . . . I'm sure it's easier to explain quantum mechanics than demonstrate it . . .). It's always more fun to demonstrate than explain, which is why everyone should visit Oklahoma in the spring--for the redbuds and the weather!

I'll catch you later, I've got to go buy an umbrella!