Neighbourhood love
The outskirts of summer
Northern springs begin with me freezing in the morning sunshine on my patio with a cup of coffee that cools too quickly. 3°, sunshine, and no wind are the perfect early April mornings. But any wind, or passing clouds and I cower back under a throw.
The temperatures are slow to work their way above 0°, but the northern sun is strong. My seedlings were happy scattered around on windowsills, chasing the sun from the east windows over to the west. It was weeks around these windowsills, and then half days outside before nights back inside, and eventually they were set free outside to mature where still they grow.
Day length continued to grow and the temperatures too. As often as I was out driving through the night chasing midnight twilight skies, I would walk my beautiful neighbourhood and every forest trail I could find.
The snow eventually gave way to the flora of the forest floor, and the ice gave back the teal water views. Lupines sprung up all through the forest, and every day I thought the forests could never look more beautiful than the day before. Summer was a long way away but the forests were already magical beyond anything I had known before. They were my favourite place to be and I could not get enough.
More than just a starvation of my senses through winter, this was pure magic. It was all life returning. It was a world reawakening.
Sunset by sunset, summer has been coming to an end. Tonight felt like the last true summer night. The forecast ahead finally cools down from the consistently high 20s. The nights will reach closer to freezing and I will dance on the grave of every last mosquito. But tonight the wind was gusty and still warm, blowing the fragrant scent of white sweet clover, something I will long for and struggle to imagine in another half year.
The berries in the forest are now just beginning and will keep me busy into November. These early lingonberries bring me happiness beyond your wildest imagination. Soon my freezer will be full with them, but for now my palms are, walk after walk, night after night.
With longer nights, the treats of winter return. The evenings around the neighbourhood quiet down earlier and dramatic skies keep me on my toes, literally, running from one side of my apartment to the other.
Some late, late moments before bed, and before I wrap up the patio furniture for the winter, are spent out on the patio in still comfortable temperatures and in the best company of all.
The days of dim lighting and cosy darker nights are returning and I’m ready. But I’ll miss this a lot, and all the slow, friendly interactions with neighbours everywhere. I love this place more than a love I have ever known.
