WELCOME!!

Blogger Boss needs to decide what this is going to say about how crazy her life is & how she loves coffee & walks with her hubby.


Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Looking forward, with one eye in the rearview mirror...

So.  Summer is upon us.  This is our 2nd summer in Finland, and last year we experienced the warmest, actually HOTTEST, summer here in over 100 years.  I'm not counting on a rerun, but that's OK.  Looking back on the 14 summers I spent in Canada, I know there are some things I will not miss about real heat.  When the thermometer seem to get stuck at +35C, for weeks and weeks, and the nights remain hot and humid, and the loudest noise you hear is your A/C working relentlessly, while you toss and turn in bed, praying for a cool breeze....  5 times I was big and pregnant in the summer too, which meant extra sweat.  We were surrounded by huge lakes and a river, but when the heat peaked, so did the e-coli in the water, making those beautiful lakes dangerous to swim in.  So sad.  We had many, many days with smog warning,  extreme UV warnings, and at times there would be like a lid with thick humid smog covering our area, making it dangerous to be outside at all.  So then we'd stay inside, where the air was stale and dry from running the A/C non stop. 

Will I miss all that??  Nope.  Of course there were many days spent in our backyard pool.  And backyard BBQ's with wonderful family and friends, that I'll miss.  Sometimes when it wasn't too humid, but just warm, and dark in the middle of the night...  That I'll miss too.  And the HUGE thunderstorms, when the trees would be bent over sideways...  Yeah, I'll miss that as well.  I am looking forward to some things thou.  Cool nights when it's still light outside for example.  Last night we were working on the house, and I realized it was past 10!  And it was totally light outside.  I could hear tons and tons of birds chirping, and the air was so fresh and smelled increadibly good from all the wildflowers, pinetrees, birch trees and lilocs.  Mmmm.....  You could hear the birds down at the pond (it's more like a small lake actually), but otherwise quiet.  The lakes here don't get so hot, but many people will have a sauna right at the lake side, where you warm up, and then you dash in to the cool, clean water.  In the woods we'll be picking blueberries, lingonberries and wild strawberries, as well as tons of wild flowers.  And even if the day has been hot, it usually cools off at night, so you can open the window and let the breeze in.  No A/C needed. 

I feel fortunate to be able to experience living in different contries, with different climates and cultures. 
It will be fun to go to the market in the summer and buy fresh fruits, berries and veggies from the locals, just like I loved to stop at the roadside market stands back in Canada.  Buying fresh melons and corn on the cob... yummmm..... 
I guess you can make the best out of every situation, and I'm looking forward to another summer here!  And I'm sure there'll be times I miss all those great summers in Canada ;)

8 comments:

Rose said...

In the news today...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/05/31/ontario-hot-weather-toronto548.html

Luckily I live in BC :) No humidity, hot summers (usually) but no e. coli in the beautiful lakes!

MeWoman said...

Rose... This is what I'm talking about! (refering to the above articel). We'd have weather like that for weeks on end, I called it "useless weather", since you were stuck inside! I think I'd like BC better weather wise!

lou lou said...

don't forget to go pick all the raspberries on our lot!! also FYI they are now selling Magnum Icecream in Canada - at least that is one less thing for me to miss about Finland!! xo

MeWoman said...

Oh yeah! I will NOT forget about them!! btw, they came out w. several new Magnum flavours this summer... I'll be busy eating icecream...

Sofia's Corner said...

Kaisa - we should live closer to eachother. THat's what I miss most living up north - the summers down south.
Oh, and I just had a Magnum ice cream - yum! :)

They call me aggie said...

Oh, HOT HOT HOT summer. I love it. I wish it would stay above 90 all summer long, no joke. And I don't even like AC. Here in the PNW it never gets humid and the sky is an endless blue. I never realized what smog looked like until we were down in L.A. the other week. The whole city and surrounding areas were covered in a brownish fog. NOT a cloudy day like I first thought, but a smoggy day. Gag.
I will take summers in the PNW over any other place in the world (if it doesn't rain)
Hot, bright blue skies, no bugs, no mosquitoes, no humidity, slightly cooler at night to refresh everything for the morning, ahhhhhhh.

Summer, Please come!!

Our winters here SUCK, but summers are beautiful.

MeWoman said...

Aggie, It's true, WHEN the summer comes out there, it is great. I have spent a summer out there, and although it did rain (no really??) a fair amount, it was really nice when the sun peeked out. There were bugs thou. Lots of them! People had those "bug zappers" everywhere, and they were sure there for a reason! (maybe they are all gone now?? the bugs?) he, he... We have about 80F here now, and that's so nice, just perfect for me. When it gets much warmer than that, little kids can't handle it so well, and if you are trying to get something done around the house, at least I get sluggish when the inside temp starts to resemble a sauna! The smog is sick thou. Detroit area had plenty of it... not like LA, but enough alrite... yukk. Then I rather take a bit cooler weather and air that is breathable!!

Sofia's Corner said...

No smog here at the North Pole... and believe me; I sure wish our temp.could at least reach 70F!!! :P I'm lucky if it's gets up to 68F.
I've lived here too long, when I find myself saying "yeah, it's pretty warm outside today" - and it's a 59F!!! Shoot me.
People here even have the guts to COMPLAIN that it's "TOO HOT" when it gets up to 77-86F. Get a life! That's not HOT, that's AWESOME!