聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 As someone told me the other day, 鈥淎ugust is like the Sunday of the year.鈥� And I think it couldn鈥檛 be truer. Granted this individual is a teacher, so he definitely sees August as the Sunday before going back to work on the Monday (September). However, even for people that work through the summer, August is kind of that month that we start saying goodbye to our unfinished summer plans and start preparing for autumn鈥� which leads to the now famous line from George R.R. Martin鈥檚 Game of Thrones, 鈥淲inter is coming.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Sorry to throw that out there鈥� it is a little early to be talking about the snow and cold, but on the plus side, because of the cold our bugs and spiders don鈥檛 get to be so big that you nearly have a heart attack looking at a common garden spider. I lived in Australia for six months and during that time with my mom鈥檚 cousin for a little while. I went out to help her in the garden 鈥� the backyard 鈥� and when I looked up; I turned to Jenny and asked if the spider sitting there in its web was poisonous.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 She replied that it wasn鈥檛, that it鈥檚 the little ones you have to watch out for, and that the big ones you were supposed to like because they ate the little ones鈥� but, I simply stood there staring at this spider that was the size of my hand and thanked the powers that be that I would return to Canada where nature keeps its bugs and arachnids in check.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Sure, we have bears, cougars, etc鈥� but, for some reason I鈥檇 much rather live alongside them than alongside a spider the size of my hand.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 So, although winter is coming and we鈥檒l end up complaining of the cold and snow when it gets here鈥� just remember the cold means we don鈥檛 have to deal with a lot of things other countries do.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Another example of winter being welcomed is that in Australia we went for a walk in the forest and when we came out we had to check ourselves for leeches. In Canada our leeches live along the shore, in the rocks, and can be quite long, looking a lot like worms. In Australia, they lived in the forest, which was hot and moist enough for them to survive. They weren鈥檛 the same size as ours can get, in fact, they looked like a little squiggle. But, similar to having to check yourself for ticks after a walk, there you had to check yourself for these little squiggles that would latch on and slowly grow as they filled with blood.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 With having spent time in Australia, mostly Brisbane, I鈥檝e come to love our changing seasons too for the simple beauty it offers. There鈥檚 a beauty in the changing colours of autumn, in the hoarfrost or freshly fallen snow of winter, and in the re-emerging greenery of spring.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Don鈥檛 get me wrong, going outside when it鈥檚 -50 with the wind chill is never something I look forward to, but to be honest I鈥檒l take that before giant spiders any day.
