In this day in 1898 the North Pole was discovered. It’s one of the coldest regions on earth, so you’re probably wondering what I’m doing mentioning it in a post about summertime.

I’m a summer person, I don’t like the cold. I live in Africa so my summers are hot and winters temperate. I have experienced snow 4 times in my life, one of them when I visited my friend T, in the States. And it wasn’t bad snow – a bit of snow on the ground in Yosemite, and maybe a little more in Tahoe. This was late November, early December.

As I think back to the polar vortex experienced in the Northern Hemisphere this past winter, I’m hoping we don’t get an African equivalent – in Joburg it wouldn’t be snow and blizzards, more like wind and rain, and maybe a day or two of snow. In the mountains it would be much worse off course.

Last winter, 2013, we didn’t switch the heater on even once. Cold in the evenings and mornings, it was very warm during the day.

My fondest memories of this last summer were inaugurating our newly marbelited pool, sunlight until almost 8pm and sunrise before 5am. Family Christmas.  A family gettaway. Family birthdays. Gobbling juicy strawberries even before unpacking the rest of the groceries. Having meals out in the garden. The scent of the sun on sun-dried clothes. Opening all the doors and windows and letting the outside in. The smell of braaiing* meat. The fragrance of frangipani and magnolia in the evening air. Farmland in varying shades of green on the nearby hillsides.  Late afternoon thunderstorms. The smell of wet earth after the rain.

All of the above is what I am looking forward to when summertime comes around again in October.

*Braai – South African word for barbecue.