Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Summer Lovin'

Deb: The tide, or rather the temp is turning. We have had a long hot summer here in Toronto, fraught with high temperatures and higher humid index. It has been a sexy sweaty summer, accompanied by heavy thunderstorms and buckets of rain. I can’t remember the last time a summer this hot was reflected by burgeoning plants and green green grass. The rain has come almost exactly when we have needed it, craved it, and it has come hard and mostly at night.

But suddenly, there is a slight nip in the air, an amuse-bouche of autumn’s considerable gifts. We are still getting mostly warm weather but the fade is on. The markets are full of autumnal mums and my fuchsia plants are starting to thin out just a tad. Shorts and tanks are still the order of the day, but I will grab a light jacket and throw it in the car just before rushing out the door. When I shower and leave the house, I stay showered, not like July where we resided in a traveling steam room. But I will wallow in perfect days like today––26 degrees and a slight breeze––and cling to them until the summer wanes.

I am usually ready by this point to say goodbye to summer, but the summer of 2010 has done its job, bless its steamy little heart. There will be no lamenting a missing summer this year. It showed up and got the job done. I am not one bit embarrassed for it. Lived up to its resumé, this summer did.

So as a reward of sorts, I shall not look ahead to the fall, my favourite season. I will stay right with summer for its final summery weeks and wave its sunny flag right to the last bumblebee. Thank you, summer of 2010! I will remember you fondly when in the coming months my nose hairs freeze.

Barbara: Oh, yes, this has been a glorious summer for those of us living in Ontario. Not sure how it’s been for the rest of you, but here it’s been just as Deb says, with steamy heat and lots of well-timed sun. Cocktail hour has never been so fair and sweet.

That said, every important weather day for me this summer has not come through. BabyFest? Steaming hot before and after, winter cold and stormy for those precious three days. Taking my niece to the local fair (otherwise known as The Ex)? Yup, hot and sunny the day before and after, unseasonably cold and rainy on that one day and night (it’s hard enough for me to face an amusement park ride as it is, never mind putting on a brave face for my sweet niece and shivering from frostbite as we rollercoastered and tilta-whirled). Told you I loved to complain about the weather.

And on that note––the biggest shiver induced by Deb’s lovely post has to be from her ode to fall. Um, not so much for me. I do love the colours and I can even bear the occasional cooler day. I do like the symbolism of the “fresh start”—and, funnily, this seems to manifest often in my life. Lots of fresh starts in fall. But knowing winter is coming after the season, with its cold and dark and forced indoor life, I can’t help but want to hang onto my summer porch, kicking and screaming and tantruming until winter concedes and pats my head and goes away. If only that would work *sigh*…

Deb: Well, you already know my thing on this as I have said in many a blog. I don’t let the weather define my life or the events therein negatively. I count my blessings that I do not live in a part of the world that weather can ruin your home or your life in a second. So for me, I love all weather and look for the beauty in each day. Corny maybe, but it is so true for me. I am a weather ho, a season’s slut, if you will.

I am so sorry, Barb, that the summer was ultimately defined for you by a few events. We had some of those moments ourselves, but we took it in its stride and chalked it up as Mother Nature’s crap-shoot. I have never counted on weather to make or break my fun. I have always taken it as it comes, moving inside when needed, like a picnic that gets a sudden downfall and ends up with a game of snakes and ladders on the deck.

This side of you is so unBarb to me as you are such a positive person who finds beauty in everything. But as you have said, I guess it is just the Weather Witch in you that you strive to control.

We live in a country of seasons and it is my blessing that we do. Autumn weather is like heaven in my view. I long for the “Boo Radley” nights with the leaves crackling and whipping in the snug autumn wind. Oh, dear me, it is like breath to me. Magic. And winter? Never do I feel so alive as when the frosty morning slaps me in the face and says, “What the hell are you staying indoors for??? Come out and walk with me till your fingers feel tingly and your cheeks are cherry red! Then come inside and circle your hand around a steamy hot chocolate. Now, look out your window. I’m out here all frozen, keeping it real for the sleeping earth till I choose the time to put back the spring in your step.” Seasons! Are you kidding me? Who loves ya, baby???

Barbara: Um, did Deb say something? ‘Cause all I heard was, “Blah blah weather blah slut blah blah.”

22 comments:

  1. I kinda love autumn too (you kinda have to, in this country), but I do get all "oh, summer, why do you have to leave now that we were having such a good time?"

    For me, though, this often have to do with the tough vacation/school transition. I have such a hate/love relationship with the start of a new school year.

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  2. Also, I meant to post a link: http://www.wulffmorgenthaler.com/default.aspx

    Familiar, B? ;)

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  3. Hi Cruella, yeah for me, now that I don't have a school aged kid to get ready it is an easy transition. But I get what you mean. I always think of the day after labour day as my New Years and I get all full of project ideas and "to do's" The comic was funny and I guess lots of pepes have that disorder, like our Barb. What can I say, I love it all!

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  4. I like fall a lot, but my complaint is that we only get about 2 weeks of it around here. We go far too rapidly from blistering hot to freezing cold. I do like the first time I get to cuddle into one of my sweaters. I like the scent of burning leaves. I like acorns. I like the low utilities bills for the month when the air conditioner is turned off but the heater is not yet turned on. And, I like Bama football! Roll Tide!

    Winter used to be my favorite season, but the last 2 winters have beaten that out of me. I am sincerely hoping that winter will go easy on us this year. No more ice. Please, no more ice. Ice storms = BAD. Two feet of snow in a Southern place that is not equipped to deal with snow = bad. I wouldn't complain if I lived in NH, AK, or even Chicago. Winters are part of the bargain in many places. But, I live in the South. I didn't sign up for this nonsense! LOL

    Seriously, that ice storm was a very, very wrong thing. Millions and millions of dollars of damage, people dying and being injured, fires, and more. I had no electricity for 8 days, and I was one of the lucky ones. Some people had no power for close to a month. *shudder* I'd like to go the rest of my life without ever experiencing a massive ice storm again, please.

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  5. Hi Rigel,
    I hear you. Ice or extreme heat is never good when it is in the disaster category. Sorry you had such a trial. Maybe it won't happen this year.

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  6. Autumn is alright and summer has been ok I guess the reason that I like summer is because I am a summer baby,but my season is winter. I love how everything is covered in snow and I love when I come in side how I can curl up in front of my fire place and look out side my window to see the snow coming down. The only thing I don't like is when I have to drive in it. Autumn is not bad. There are beautiful colors in autumn and it is very very beautiful but I perfer winter.

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  7. Yeah Lyndsie, I too love winter for it's maternal nature. I love the way it preserves the earth for it's spring awakening. Miraculous really. Always amazes me. But yes, driving in any extreme weather-bummer!

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  8. I'm not sure I knew you ladies were in Toronto... funny, that my blogger friends who live closest to me would be in another country... (you are only 4 hours away from me in Ann Arbor).

    I am with Barbara on not wanting to let go of summer... when I lived in a place with more balanced seasons, I loved the start of every one, and then wanted it to go by the end, but Michigan of the 7 month winter makes me loath to relinquish the summer. It takes 90+ for better than a week for me to get tired of it, and while it has FINALLY been a real summer, it has NOT been that.--and besides... my kids are 15 and 11, so we dive into CHAOS

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  9. In my area of Saskatchewan we've had three weeks or less of summer heat, and two or three times the annual average precipitation. It hasn't felt much like summer -- except there have been plenty of hungry mosquitoes.
    I love fall smells and "Indian summers" after a freeze, when the insects are pretty much decimated.
    Used to hate winter, till I started wearing ski pants every time I went outdoors. Now winter is a pleasure, to me.

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  10. When we moved here from Chicago, I swore I would never complain about the weather again. Now as I sit here in front of a fan waiting for the HVAC guy to get here to fix the A/C, I'm thinking how nice a crisp autumn day sounds.

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  11. Autumn (or Fall) is lush. Though if I lived in America, Fall would sound biblically threatening to me, and my feelings would be mixed.

    As it stands, as a Brit, autumn is a gorgeous word, so the season makes me cheery.

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  12. Autumn is a delicious word. That might just be the best thing about it.

    Man, I love the far and wideness of where everyone lives!

    And, Hart, I knew we were pretty close as I often visit my in-laws in Bloomfield Hills, so I know the beauteousness of Ann Arbour very well.

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  13. Throughout the day, I've thought about this post several times. After a long, HOT, DRY spell, we are in our second day of much needed rain so weather's really on my mind. :)

    I mentioned some of my autumnal loves above (acorns, the scent of burning leaves, when there's just enough chill in the air that I get to wear my snuggly sweaters again, and Bama football). But, I've been mentally adding to the list throughout the day (and smiling about it!):

    1. A big pot of homemade chili on a chilly night. Yum.

    2. Seeing little kids in their Halloween costumes. Fairy princesses! Robots! Jedi! Batmen! Cute, little witches!

    3. Picking up pecans.

    4. Jack-o-lanterns

    5. the sound of high school marching bands drifting through the night from the stadium during half-time on Friday nights (Don't y'all just love marching band music?)

    6. watching flocks of birds overhead flying south (and hearing the loud geese honking on their way)

    7. hayrides -- I'll never outgrow enjoying hayrides. :)

    8. And, the BIG one for me every year is that my star rises. I'm named after a star in the constellation of Orion. My star becomes visible in the Northern Hemisphere in the night sky in the fall time (and sets in the spring). Ever since I was a little girl, seeing my star for the first time each fall has been a big thrill.

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  14. I, like Barbara, have a love/hate relationship with the weather, mostly since I live in New Zealand and the weather can be rather unpredictable.

    Winter is pretty boring where I live. We don't get snow (if you want snow you have to drive about 3 or 4 hours to the mountains), so Winter is pretty much cold and rainy. It hasn't been too bad this year (I don't think anyway) but I'm looking forward to the summer.

    Not a huge fan of Spring myself, since it's usually pretty rainy too, but at least slowly getting warmer (slowly being the operative word - over the past few years Summer hasn't really kicked in till late December/January but lasted till early to mid April)

    Autumn's probably my favourite, pretty much the same as Summer, but cooler mornings and evenings - a welcome break from the blistering heat and humidity of Summer :-)

    I can't help but complain about the weather, but lately I have been trying to make a conscious effort to take a page out of Deb's book and look on the positive side.

    I still can't wait till Summer though ;-)

    Elle

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  15. Oh how I love the varied and wonderful comments on the weather and all of our feelings towards it. Hart, Katrinka, Lisa, M.J, Elle, Rigel and her list! I guess ultimately what I am saying is that the weather is what it is, there is nothing we can do about it. So I try to embrace every lovely thing to be found in every season. To dread something that I know for sure is a part of my life, my every day, my every year life feels so wrong for me. I remember telling our son a few years back, "do not stress about taxes, do not waste your time hating them and dissing them. They are a fact of life, so just do them and while you are doing them, remember that with the taxes, come the crocuses. This has also been a learning blog for me. The fact that the lovely and positive Barb does not like the autumn is so shocking to me. But because I adore her so, I will not re-evaluate our relationship.

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  16. Well, you know I am a Fall Doom and Gloomer. I love the long lazy days of Summer, less responsibility, loose schedules, vacations, road trips, night hikes, movies in the park, outdoor concerts and cocktail parties, salsa dancing under the stars ....
    Fall brings flu and fires to California. Boooooooo.....hiss.
    But I am inspired by your love of seasons Deb. I'm going to try to be more Deb-like. Here I go....dragging my feet.

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  17. Holly I love that spirit. And here's my thinking...what have you got to lose? If you find only one thing more to like...it's ONE THING MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And as far as flu goes, I have seen many many people sick in the summer. The doctors say that flu season is becoming more and more a year round challenge! But yes, fires boo hiss indeed. Again though, not the weather's fault but the fault of asshole humans without a brain in their heads. Hate the irresponsible campers. They give good campers a bad name. We have dealt with it here this season too.

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  18. I live down here in Texas. We have hot summers and wet winters. I would love to see snow more than a couple of hours once a decade. But weather is weather and you can't control it, so you learn to live with it. You have snowstorms and blizzards, we have hurricanes and tornadoes.
    Mother Nature just loves to show off, and keep us on our toes. You must admit she has a great range of emotions.

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  19. Oh, and one thing I really prefer about fall and winter is that the clothing is more covering. I just feel better wearing cold weather outfits because they wrap up more of my body. I don't like hot weather clothes at all.

    And, on the seasons front, anyone else stop and oooooo and aaaaahhh when there's an ice crystals halo around the moon?

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  20. you guys crack me up, and actually Deb's post is so beautifully written. I want to be more like Deb -- not let the weather define me -- but alas I am more Barb, clinging to summer like a pathetically desperate woman at the heels of her lover. Oh, come on, yes, I have been that too.

    As for the word funnily, I thought I was the only one in the world that used that. Is it even really a word?

    I love you girls. Women. Mature ladies. Whatever the FUCK we are . . .

    :)

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  21. Funnily, I think funnily is a real word. It's a great word.

    And, yes, Deb's post is so beautiful, one does want very much to love all weather, if only just to keep her writing about it.

    We love you too, Gae. And all of you other girls, gals, women, mature ladies, young lads and supportive husbands.

    And, Rigel, I don't know if I've ever seen an ice crystals halo around the moon. Sounds positively divine.

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  22. Or, as my son Emil says:
    "I don't like winter. But, I guess I just have to put up with it. We can't control the weather.... Mom, it's a good thing we can't control the weather, or there would probably be wars over it."

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