We will have weather whether or not....

The first two weeks of September, we had perfect weather, bright and clear and fall season.

The last two weeks of September, we had some cold days, doubling up sweaters & jackets, got out kid hats.  Still bright (except for getting up an hour before sunrise), still fall, but really brisk.  Every color leaves you can imagine.  Maple, ash, birch, oak, linden, an amazing variety.  And a lot more trees than it seems if you assume first that we live in an entirely concrete jungle.  No grassy places to walk, just decorative edges around the buildings, fenced off from people.  

Then we had two weeks of much milder temperatures, back down to just a sweater.  

This week has been gloomy and five kinds of rain, at least (mist, drizzle, light rain, intermittent, occassional), so you never travel without a raincoat or umbrella.  Most umbrellas, tho, dont stand up well to the unpredictable bursts of wind.  

Moscow isnt a "windy" city as such, but you get lots of unpredictable breezes twising their way between 5-story and 14-story buildings, gusts of air across wide thoroughfares with buses exhaust eddying across the roads, and wind forcing itself like an elephant through alleyways, cutting like a knife through unseasonable coats. 

Today, we are expecting temperatures around freezing, with real feel of just below freezing, so we got out the early winter gear.  Snow pants, which are called "shtani" in Russian.  We use the Russian word because last year the girls did NOT want to wear "snow pants" if there wasnt snow.  So they are "cold pants".  Our two year old A was excited to see her spring cold suit (jacket/shtani), which she tried hard to put on herself.  Our four year old K insisted on wearing her shtani.  She was so excited going to preschool in shtani--now I can be like the other kids! 

When we had the previous cold spell (+5 celsius) someone brought their daughter to the "baby preschool" (As class) wearing already the pink cold suit which we just got out today for our youngest.   This dad thinks Muscovites are weird about the cold.  In Siberia, this isnt cold.