I have had enough of Summer

It is time for Autumn now. 
Summer began right away this year, there was no easing into it  and it just got hotter and hotter. I am still having enough trouble with the months.. summer starts in November/December ! I am too old for new tricks, November is when leaves fall, fireplaces get used and sweaters come out of storage. 


But nooo, here,  November is beautiful and warm and then the heat starts and December and Summertime is upon us and I see no real Christmas trees and wreaths and who wants to see them anyway ? not in the middle of summer ! 
One of the things I always wondered about when I thought of people living in Miami, Florida, was what about Christmas ? it should be cold. That is just the way things should be ... according to me.


Spring is very pleasant here , if summer were like Spring, I might like the idea that it seems to go on forever. But this summer was hot. And it is still hot. And no one wants to hear me whine about it anymore. grumbling and muttering ....


But back to Fall ... the trees still lose their leaves and some turn pretty colors.
Nothing like the Northeastern autumns when we would go to Upstate New York and pick apples and spend a weekend walking through woods full of falling leaves, going to farmers markets and bringing home way more pumpkins and apples than a small family could ever eat.
Remember   Van Morrison ? Moondance ? That song was popular when I arrived in New York, about 100 years ago. 
And right after arriving in NYC, in the fall, I went on a weekend trip to upstate New York, where the apples grow and you can walk on the grounds of homes that were built by people with names like Vanderbilt and Roosevelt , with unlimited views of the beautiful Hudson River. 
That was it for me, I was in love , with New York and the Hudson Valley.  

And then I met my husband. So for me, Autumn is when things cool down and love warms up and you can go apple picking, walk through leaves and sit by a fire at night and listen to Moondance if you want.


But I am in Argentina now and it is April  and fall is just beginning, my friends back home are talking about their summer plans and I am looking ahead to getting my winter clothes out and shopping for a new coat. 


Fall looks like Fall here. 
And it often smells like fall, during the day, that leafy , damp earthy smell, at night the scent of wood smoke from fire places and from the parrillas where steaks are cooking on open fires. 
Then we wrap a scarf around our necks and grab Pup and go for an evening walk, enjoying the coolness, walking a little closer to each other, Pup is a little friskier with the chill in the air .. running on ahead, sniffing, always sniffing.

I look at fashion magazines from the US and Europe and see the summer styles, recipes for salads and fruit desserts. 
I walk past shops and see boots and warm coats. No wonder I am confused all the time.
I understand more and more Spanish but now I also understand that May means get out the winter clothes.


I must admit, I love the winters  here .. the skies are this amazing blue. 
The sun shines brightly every day in often cloudless skies. 
We walk all the time, everywhere and come home with pink noses from the sun and big appetites from all the exercise.
It is not the sort of winter where one wants to hibernate until the sun comes out and it is warm again. You just wear a warmer scarf and a coat and go on about your life, which is quite pleasant considering some places where it rains every day... regardless of the season and you think that if you go out in it one more time, you will find mold growing... on your body.


Pup enjoys winter, he could care less about temperatures and rain   but since we enjoy being out more, he ends up getting more walks , he has decided that it was not a bad idea, moving here.


Our first months here were so full of exploring and getting settled and getting lost and apartment shopping, that we paid little attention to the weather changes, one day it was just cold. 
Then it was July. That was confusing enough, cold-July, but then one day it snowed.
For a couple of New Yorkers, who had lived through a few big snowstorms and even a blizzard or two, the gentle short snowfall in Buenos Aires was charming and "not really snow"... but it was so much fun watching all the people react to the First Snowfall in 90 years !!
Children were trying to catch a flake on their tongue, adults were just walking, looking up and grinning.. it was a holiday so everyone was out in the parks and in the streets, enjoying the rare sight of snow in Buenos Aires.
We especially liked that it did not accumulate and that we did not have to drive in it and no one slipped on the front steps.
Winter is not bad here, Fall is wonderful, I am looking forward to it.