Summer in November

This can't be right. It's late November, our first in New Mexico, and it's warm. Really warm -- in the 60s in the daytime, with still air and a hot sun.

I walk in and out of the house with no jacket, no sweater. I'm still having coffee on the deck and when the morning sun gets too hot I have to move to the shade. Lunch on the patio. Afternoons with the doors open. Nights are cold, and we need the heat on in the house then, but these late November days are hot and sunny.

This climate is truly comfortable.

I was starting to get incredulous about the days and days of nice weather, so I looked up the history on Weather Underground and it turns out temperatures have been significantly above normal almost every day this month.

This chart is hard to see (you can click on it here to embiggen it) but the pattern is clear. It's a warm November. Another chart shows that several days have set records. Wow.

Thanksgiving in southern California at my son's was also a wow. It was in the 90s there, also unusual for the time of year. It was very hot beach weather. Roses bloomed, grass was green, and we spent most of Thanksgiving sitting on his shaded patio in t shirts and bare feet.

The weekend after Thanksgiving is when Christmas wreaths and outdoor lights go up. It's impossible to even think about that after spending the holiday at what felt like a tropical resort, and coming home to such warm days here. Nevertheless, I am going to go wreath shopping this week. 

They sell these chile pepper wreaths all over Santa Fe, just a circular version of the hanging ristras, but I want a real one. A real evergreen wreath with berries and pine cones, like a Christmas decoration is supposed to be. I hope I can even find one on a summerish November day.