Made For The Sun

I'm a tropical island girl...always been, always will be. I love the sun (but not it's tanning powers), I like the heat (esp when I'm entering a cool shopping centre AWAY from the searing heat) and I love the fact one doesn't need to dress so heavily every single time one steps out of the front door. When it takes me almost 10 minutes to put on clothes on top of he clothes that keep me from walking around naked just so I can step out in the cold, that's too many clothes. But damn if they weren't essential! Layers and layers of wooly things that stick to my lips and itches but which I have to endure just cos it keeps me warm and most importantly ALIVE.

I'm NOT loving the cold.

My first winter last year was extremely mild and the temperatures hardly passed -10 and that was only at night when I would be nice and cosy in my warmish apartment.

But this year...ugh! The temperatures have dunked to -15 while the sun is out! I get fooled all the time, thinking that it's not so cold outside cos the sun is shining so brightly into my apartment, warming me and Sussie. The sun feels so good that Sussie even abandons her morning naps to play and go crazy chasing her tail and her imaginary friends in the sun and warmth. But then I look at the outdoor thermometer and it reveals the truth about the devious weather....-17 degrees celsius!! Shite...I don't dare to go out much cos it's just so cold and my face feels frozen 5 minutes from leaving the building. I need to cover half of my face with my wooly scarf just so that my face and especially nose would not hurt but then the wool bits get stuck on my lips and in my nose so it's really uncomfortable.

Then stop wearing the wool, you say? I wish I could but it's so cold that I need something that thick to keep me semi decently warm.

But it's not all bad. With the temperatures dipping so low, it's given an opportunity for the lake to freeze over enough to allow skating on the lake which is so cool to watch! I was so sad that neither Mathias or I had skates so we could not go ice skating on the lake but we did walk over the frozen lake. The fact that snow covered almost all the icy surface made it much easier to walk over the ice with our winter boots and it also took away some of the freak out factor I would otherwise have from looking straight down into the frozen lake and possibly seeing fish and other water creatures that may exist beneath the water surface.

The snow gives so much more to the landscape in terms of beauty, silence and a sense of calm and serenity. Walking by the lake when the sun is just setting gives one a sense of awe at just how beautiful nature can be, untouched by man.

Regardless of where one lives, there will always be pros and cons. The good and bad of living in a new environment, adjusting to changes big and small and simply making the best of life wherever that may be.

I'm not unhappy and miserable living in Sweden although I can certainly have miserable moments. I'm actually happy with my life, setting up house and home with a loving husband and building up our family and settling down to family life. I think I have licence to complain sometimes living in cold Scandinavia cos I'm a girl made for the sun and the winter season just dampens that sunny spirit of mine.