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It was summer

What’s your favorite summer memory?

A lot of people in my city hate winter. They absolutely detest the extreme cold that comes with living north of the 55th parallel. Our winters are very harsh.

Due to ?geography/water, it’s a different type of winter that what one would experience north of 55 if you lived in say, Europe somewhere.

I refuse to be one of those people who dreads winter. What is the point? Might as well embrace it.

However, summer is just, easier. You can walk in the backyard with bare feet. No jacket. In your pajamas.

Winter means putting aside a few minutes to bundle up before going out. And if you’ve got kids, better set aside ten minutes to wrestle them into ski pants, winter jacket, neck warmer, toque, mittens and boots. That’s really an un-fun part. Good thing that kids tend to love the snow.

Summer is a wonder because everything turns green, flowers bloom. I make my coffee and slide open the patio doors to step outside into a world of fresh smells and birds singing.

In winter, everything is frozen hard and all that was green is bare and dead. Sounds kind of depressing. When I searched up average Thompson winter temps, it likened our weather to two places in Russia. Nice.

September means it’s time to start thinking about winter so that when it arrives, it’s not such a shock and I am ready. Some years we get snow-that-stays in October (and lasts til May).

So my favourite memory of summer was that it was summer.

The sunset boat cruise on the Red River in Winnipeg that the kids & I took (minus Bella-Lena), was one of my favourite things, especially because it took me by surprise (how much I enjoyed it)
Arriving back to our destination

23 responses to “It was summer”

  1. it’s an “olden days” memory (and one I think I’ve mentioned before) … laying in the grass in a field and looking up at the sky … there’s a slight breeze and wispy white clouds float by…

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    1. I love that yes! Just yesterday actually when I picked Sid up from preschool to go home for lunch, when we crossed the street, he flopped down on our front lawn and just laid there…I contemplated laying down beside him and feeling the grass and staring up at the sky…then I wondered what would people think lol…and before I could decide he jumped up and went inside 🙂

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      1. …ten seconds after laying down peacefully in your front lawn, someone yells “CALL 9-1-1!!!”

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      2. Exactly lol

        Liked by 1 person

  2. i love that last line CJ and the pictures.

    we all have different things that create different realities for us. we just adapt. and we’re thankful for what we get. your line encompasses that concept so well. Mike

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    1. Thank you, thank you Mike! 😉

      Liked by 1 person

  3. winter

    no snow

    nino nina

    Liked by 1 person

    1. 🤞🏽

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      1. we used to get snow. now all we get is bleech inversion. dirty fetid air, literally the worst air in the us even than nyc or la. is it any wonder i refuse to walk between nov and march>? nope!!!!!!!!!

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  4. I understand this so much better than I would have a few years ago, and haven’t even dealt with a rough winter yet! It’s the darkness I’m not looking forward to and am aware of slowly encroaching.

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    1. Lol embrace the darkness Stephanie! 🖤

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      1. Bwahahaha

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  5. I used to hate winter. Why? Because I didn’t dress properly. Now that I do, I love winter. It’s beautiful out there! Summers aren’t what they used to be, what with wildfire smoke, extreme heat, unseasonal cold, horrid winds, wood ticks (which we never used to have around here). Fall – oh I do love fall; no mosquitoes, birds migrating overhead, Canada geese overnighting in the fields nearby, crops coming off till late into the night. Spring, oh how I love spring’s colour: kelly green when the leaves first come out. I love all four of our seasons and would miss any one of them if I lived somewhere that didn’t have four seasons with so much variation. I’d miss the changes from one to the next.

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    1. Yesssss! If you dress for it, it makes all the difference!
      I totally agree about the seasons thing, it’s such a beautiful miracle and keeps things exciting!

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  6. I’d never thought of parallels before so I looked it up and we’re at the 45th parallel here. Compared to you, winters down here don’t look so bad anymore.

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    1. For some reason “north of 55” is a thing here, like even some businesses use that in their names!

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  7. It shocks me how fast you go from summer—like true sunny, swimming summer—to really cold, with snow coming soon!
    Your post and photo are very poignant. Summer is like a true sacred jewel 💎 to all you folks WAY up North.

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    1. Oh it absolutely is Mary, it comes ‘n goes in the blink of an eye!

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  8. i’ll be happy for summer to go, it’s been brutal this past month but i’m sure i’ll miss it again when it starts raining during the winters here.

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    1. I’d probably feel the same if i lived there too Rojie. Do you ever miss the 4 seasons though?

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      1. I actually do! I miss seeing the leaves change colors and tbh sometimes it feels like all the days blur together here cause of the weather

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      2. Yeah i can understand that!

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  9. I’ve just got my Google Maps out and looked up Thompson, Manitoba, wow! it seems really isolated. The fact that you are preparing for Winter is so strange to me and yet in terms of parallels we are at the 52nd parallel so not that vastly different.
    Climate change is definitely affecting the UK. The last couple of years it feels like the rain starts on October 1st and doesn’t stop until April 1st. We get a few days of Autumn, just enough to let the leaves fall and then a couple of days of Spring to allow the daffodils to flower. We haven’t had any real snow since 2018!
    The meteorologists are predicting, however, that this year the El Niño will be the worst on record with severe drought in Africa, flooding in South America up to and including Florida and one of the worst winters ever in Europe 🤷‍♀️. Lets see if they are right

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