Four Seasons

I love the changing of the seasons, especially where I live. Living sub-Tropical means that the subtleties of the weather are less pronounced and you need to be in tune with your area to know and understand when seasons end and change.

This year Summer has been a long time coming. We have had squally, windy, rainy days that are just not seen where I live. Its almost Melbourne like! Summer here is days of oppressive heat and humidity where it feels like you are swimming upright. The sun blasts out of a windless sky and sucks the moisture out of your skin. Nothing moves and the cicada's singing in the trees make a strident melody with the mournful moaning of the crows. Summer is school holidays and Christmas, stonefruit and mangoes. Watermelons eaten on freshly mown lawns, with your knees around your ears and spitting seeds at your siblings. Summer is hot but it is broken by a crescendo of sound and lighting that puts any NYE celebration to shame. The storms that roll in are like a Latin Lovers quarrel, vibrant and noisy and shortlived. The world holds its breath as the rain heavy clouds roll in. Then the earth breathes out and the storm hits and lashes with fury. Rain is big drops or massive hail.

Summer nights are either sauna hot, with the mosquitos singing in the dark or spent watching your husband sleep, listening to the rain on the tin roof and seeing him lit up as the lightning races across the sky and the thunder booms into the still air. Ozone is the smell of summer. Frogs making melodies in the pond amongst the raindrops are one of the sounds of summer.

Autumn reminds of a baby with the hiccups. Days of blazing heat at first with a slight catch in the wind. Searingly hot summer breezes soften and relax. The air has a crispness to it that catches you unawares and, before you know it, you are wearing a dressing gown in the mornings and the dog is cold at night. After the endless wringing heat of summer, the world again breathes out, in soft morning puffs of cool air. In my garden Autumn is heralded by the swelling flower buds of the Grevilleas and the Banksias. The birds begin to lengthen their visits as the flowers start to appear. Around the pond it becomes strangely silent as the frogs start to huddle in for a crisply cool winter.

Winter is a time of balmy days and cold nights. Long walks on freezing cold beaches or in the rain followed by hot chocolate with marshmallows and bubble baths afterward. Children with cold noses and sparkling eyes. Slippers and seven cats in the bed at night. My garden has burst into a glorious riot of colour as Lady Queensland puts on her finest for the winter dance. Flowers are heavy with nectar and the bees drone quietly in the soft winter sunshine. While Summer is a season of water, Winter is dry and you can feel it in your bones. Skin is itchy and static is clingy as the August winds sweep in drying everything out and making people cranky. Jumpers stick to your skin and kids spend time shocking everyone with the static electricity from their shoes. The days are too short and the nights never seem long enough. Flannelette sheets make winter a welcome snuggling time.

And then its Spring. It creeps in quietly, one day at a time. The breeze is no longer crisp but warm and welcoming, surrounding you and caressing your skin. The world begins to wake up and stretch but this time with a huge indrawn breath. Early storms march across the horizon and waken the frogs. Night time is busiest with the dok-doks and trills never seeming to end. The soft and sensual introduction to spring never last long and its only a matter of days before the sun is blazing down and we are wondering where winter went.

This years Seasonal Salsa has changed. We have had days and days of never ending rain followed by weak sunshine. Our total has been a week at most of sunshine and heat. And strangely enough, I miss it. I miss that expectation of a good summer storm, of the smell of lightning as it cracks open the sky and lands in the nearby parks. I miss the almight roars as it tears across the horizon. I miss it but I know that it will be back. When the earth breathes in again.

Cindy