The day I left for Chile in mid-April, it was in the high 20s here. In Santiago, it felt like summer. At 2000m, it felt like early fall – perfectly comfortable in a t-shirt and sandals while the sun was out, reaching for a fuzzy sweater and socks as soon as it went down. On the hike up to the glacier, sitting required a shell jacket. In La Serena, it was in the mid-teens and damp, and I don’t think I wore sandals once (I did haul an extra blanket out of the closet). In the Elqui Valley, it felt like summer again. The half day I spent at home before flying to Germany, it was beer on a patio weather (not that I got to have beer on a patio, but the warm, sunny weather was really good for drying my laundry in the few hours I had!)
When I got to Germany, it was 24 degrees and sunny and I did have a beer and some dinner outside. By the time I got to Bonn that same day, a low pressure system had moved in, and the whole week was mid to high teens and rainy. The sun came out in Bonn the day I left for the Allgäu, but I got rained on the second I stepped off the train in Kisslegg. Then there was a day of 22 and sun and apple blossoms and cake outside while cycling before the snowline dropped to 1000m and it was cold and wet for several days. By the time I left, though, it was in the mid-20s and we were back to drinking beer outside. I left this wonderful weather to meet Kevin in Stuttgart, where it started raining so much that basements flooded (including my uncle’s basement). We hopped on a train to Köln and Düsseldorf, where it was cool and rainy – we did drink beers outside, but we kept our jackets on and zipped up. When we first got to Bamberg, it was a bit wet, but it cleared up the next day. It was sunny and in the high teens – cool enough that neither one of us felt the need to deal with the campground showers the first night. From then on, though, we had full-on mid to high 20s, bright sunny summer weather. Many beers were consumed sitting outside in t-shirts, though there was one night where it rained so hard that the cook at the village inn decided to drive us back to the campground. Our second night at that same campground a few days later, though, I remember sitting on a wooden bench under a tree ‘til well after it got dark, and my jacket stayed in my pannier.
Of course, when we got Šumava, we were back in rain and cold, and I put on my long waterproof pants one day even. That only lasted two days, though, and then it was back to shorts and t-shirts and summer weather. By the time we were back in Germany and cycling along the Danube, I was bitching about being too hot (that, however, was probably due to the lack of beer gardens in lower Bavaria. My bitching stopped once we hopped on a train to Regensburg – same Danube, same heat, but much better scenery and oh! The beer gardens!)
I got back to Canada, and it felt like late April had in Germany – kind of cold, kind of not like wanting to sit outside, kind of rainy. I spent a weekend in Thunder Bay shortly after I got back, and it was sunny but we mostly kept our jackets on. Little Felix wore a fleece sleeper the whole time I was there, and Sebbie insisted on his boots. Since I’ve been back to Ontario, the 14-day forecast graph has stayed consistently below the seasonal average line. Being away for six weeks did not mean I missed blackfly season, as I found out that one weekend at Shawanaga Landing. But the one really hot period, I was on Georgian Bay, and it was warm enough to use a plain air mattress and keep my sleeping bag unzipped. I swam almost every day.
Now, it’s July, and we’re still on the well below seasonal line. There has yet to be a night where I start eyeing the controls for the central air and then grudgingly turn the fan on myself. Last week, I went to the closet and got the winter duvet out again.
I think it’s fair to say I’m seasonally confused. It feels like it’s been summer forever, but also like summer hasn’t come yet, though some days, like I missed summer altogether and it’s over already. I went to the farmers market on the weekend, and I didn’t even know what would be in season. I had strawberry season in May in Germany, and grapes in Chile. There are Ontario cherries already? I haven’t missed all of the strawberries? Where are all these peppers coming from?
I have nothing to complain about. For once, I do not wish to take a roadtrip to Maine..
Posted by Johanna at July 6, 2009 05:38 PM