Strange, isn't it, how summer seemed to end abruptly about three weeks ago, and we have gone straight into autumn. All our swifts have departed , and, the swallows and martins seem to be totally confused. We seem to have hit a sort of limbo state. Warm sunshine one minute, and then, the temperature plummets as a violent thunderstorm rears it's ugly head. We had hail today, and, a cold nagging wind. Makes you wonder what winter has in store!
Hey! Where did summer go!
Just the same nasty weather over here in Belgium!
My slugs and snails though love it as I notice on their appetite :o( !
This message was edited Aug 29, 2006 6:16 PM
It was cold here today too! Very stiff north winds and temps. around 10°C. Last night the wind was so cold it felt like we'd skipped fall and went straight to winter. It's supposed to be nicer tomorrow - sunny and calm :-)
Yesterday's torrential rain has given way to marvellous sunshine, but the nip in the air leaves me in no uncertainty that autumn is here to stay. My favourite season - and it seems to go on for ever here. My experience so far is an extra month compared to England.........
:o))
How very different it is here in Mediterranean Spain. If anything, it has warmed up since the first half of August. Not going over 30 degs though which is a blessing!
Taking advantage of the warmth to germinates some seeds for overwintering in my new hobby greenhouse (bought for 50 euros at Lidl) No harm in trying - if they don't make it I've only lost a handful of compost and a few seeds...
Getting ready for winter this time though. Just replaced the c/h boiler and fitted solar hot water system. There is no way DH and I are going to huddle in front of a tiny wood-burner with an eating disorder. It burned its way through 300 euros of almond wood in 2 months last year!!!!!Luckliy for us the winter wasn't much longer than that but you can never be sure. How are the rest of you faring with gas prices now ? I heard there have been some pretty hefty price increases.
It's a lovely sunny day here today, the winds have calmed down (thank goodness), but there's definately fall in the air. Oh, well, it's almost September so I guess I'll just have to accept it - I always find fall to be a bit melancholy season for me. I love it, but at the same time I hate for summer to be over already it started soooo late this year!
Anyway, I guess I'm lucky - there are no heating problems here - we use hot water for heating and that's plenty of that here:-)
So we're warm and cozy as long as we're inside ;-)
I've only just seen this thread - I've been wittering on about how cold it is. You are right about the price increases for fuel here. I think I'm going to get the winter jumpers out before I put the heating on again. You'll be laughing at us from your warm European countries - imagine all the Brits sitting in the cold wearing coats hats and gloves to save money!
Hi everybody!!
Lizzy, check out my mail call!! LOL
Yes, it is very different here in sunny Peninsula Iberica... I've been complaining to Rannveig early today about how hot it is over here in Portugal - today is better, not more than 30ºc, but I just heard that it will get warmer again until sunday... disheartening news!
Gas prices are increasing here, and it's a shame that most of our homes aren't fitted with central heating using hot water like in Iceland, Rannveig..
Last winter I tried using a bottled gas heater and I'm quite happy with it. I think I spent around 200€ for the wole winter. Not too much, but still I think it's a lot with our average incomes.. not nearly everyone can afford to spend this kind of money in heating!
Enough complaining - I'm going out to lunch now and enjoy the good sides of living "near Africa" LOL - eating out at park benches is fun!!!!
Eat your hearts out, you northerners - I know I'm always eating mine over your cool weather...!!!! LOLOL
This message was edited Sep 1, 2006 12:38 PM
Well, summer decided to pop up to Iceland for an encore today! It was 18°C (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) :-) , calm and partly cloudy. About as good as it gets up here :-) Too bad it's starting to get dark around 9:30 .... would have liked to stay outside longer!
Icelanders that move abroad are usually very shocked by how COLD the houses can be in other countries - I guess we don't know how good we got it ..... until we move somewhere else :-)
MyHi...Check out your mail call? Did you send me a Dmail? Cos I just looked and didn't see one....Lizzy
Baa
Sep 02, 2006
Down on the South coast it seems we sometimes live in a different country, weather wise. There's some rain about this weekend but it's still warm and has been sunny.
Then again, as I often say, I've worked in shirt sleeves on Boxing day and worn jumpers and rain coats in August some years. We usually still have several plants blooming at Christmas time, last year it was stocks and Calendula mainly but the occasional rose too.
This post may jinx it but as far as I'm concerned we've had a very long dry and hot summer and a short dry, hot spring. I don't feel I have any cause to complain :)
As long as winter is dry i don't care how cold it gets.
Its usually the wet that kills my plants. I can mulch and grow eucalyptus to protect from the cold.
But the endles rain!!!!! arghhhhh.
wont get cold here to DEC then onely for about 5 weeks Paul
Not sure i like these fancy florida folks coming into the European forum rubbing our nosses in it with there fancy warm weather. heheheh
Well it's turned warm again thank goodness. We've just come back from Scotland and have had a lovely warm sunny week. I needn't have taken all the coats and jumpers as it's been T-shirt weather. There were lots of swallows and house martins too, so they aren't migrating yet even in Scotland.
Looks like today is going to be a hottun!!....hottest September day for 50 years so they reckon....wish we'd have a bit of rain though, my garden is parched, can't think the last time we had any amount of rain here,when we went up the allotment last week the ground is just in huge great cracks everywhere...
I'm not overly keen on this time of year, there's something sad about the end of summer, when winter proper gets here I'm o.k. It's just that inbetween stage...
I was looking round my garden yesterday and thinking that I'd love to cut it all down, somethings haven't fared well over this dry summer, and just flopping and dying about, others are stunted through lack of water. I have watered any newly planted plants, but the rest has to take a chance. In fact I was watering a monarda the other day,trying to revive it, stood there, hose pipe in hand, bent down making sure that the water was just going to the roots, when WHOOMPH!!...a bloomin great cooking apple fell from the tree above and smacked me staright on the back of my neck...boy! did I yell..not sure how Newton managed to think about the theory of gravity after being hit with an apple!!
It's gone back to hot and humid here, with spectacular thunderstorms :)
Hmmm 5 weeks of winter phicks..... Do you get any spring or autumn? I Know I'd miss those if they didn't happen here!
Well, it's autumn here for sure now, temp. around 10°C and overcast skies and a bit windy. A definite improvement from the weekend though - very windy and wet! I'd love to send you some rain sueone - we've had plenty! The depressions have been rolling over like they're on a conveyor belt! lol Oh, well guess it's time to accept it - summer is over up here. I feel the same way as you sueone - I'm always sad to see summer go - although fall can be a beautiful time once I've accepted the fact and moved on - it's a tough transition :-) I can't complain though - last weekend we had such wonderful last days of summer - I can't remember the last time summer went out with such a kind farewell!
Hey Lizzy!
Just saw your post, sorry!
Go to the "Garden Talk" page, and you'll find a link to "Mail call!" under the "Dave's Garden Community" links. Just a way of saying thank you before the eyes of all DG'ers!!! ;-)
No news of the peppers yet..... I'm hoping to see some litlle tips popping out soon!!
Love
Fernanda
.... by the way, I used warm water for my shower this morning for the first time in months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's a sign, it's a sign!!!!!!!! (LOLOLOL)
Autumn is coming!!!!!!!!! Weeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!
REALLY?????? My word...it's still hot and humid here - Maybe you are finally getting the cooler weather you have been dying for. Still, I think the Atlantic rules your weather in the same way the Med rules ours.
BTW I always use warm water for showering even in the hottest weather (big cissy, me)
I found Mail Call....thank you for your kind words about me Myhi(where did you get that name from? - its nothing like your real name)...it's lovely when someone says nice things for everyone to read LOL
My + Hiraeth is my username everywhere - it's just a welsh word I love -it means "saudade" ! There aren't many languages that have an equivalent for saudade, and I was delighted with it! Besides, it sounds beautiful...
As for autumn, well, let's just say that we're having a mild 30º today (68% humidity as usual)... of course I showered around 7:30, and it wasn't that warm by then... Lizzy, if you woke up sweating like a pig, had a shower sweating like a pig, and come out of it sweating like a pig, believe me, you'd go for a cold shower - besides, the water is never really cold, it comes out lukewarm from the tap.... yuuuuck!
But still I'm soooo happy at this temp drop - it's just too hot for too long!!!
Love
Fernanda
A mild 30°C! lol Wow, I'm sweating if the temps go over 25°C! Glad you're finally getting relief from the hot temps though Fernanda (pretty name!)
rannveig
Everybody has a different tolerance for heat and humidity. I grew up in Tropical Brazil and I never did acclimatise to the cold when I moved to Europe. I still feel cold when my husband feels comfortable. Perhaps I was a lizzard in another life! It's 28 degrees here at 8pm and I have cold feet!!!!!! The pool has to reach 30 degrees before I'll even contemplate getting in. Its the humidity that makes a reasonable 28 degrees feel unbearable for some people.
The acclimatising problem in a temperate climate is that by the end of the summer when you've just acclimatised to the heat - bang its winter again with a steady drop in temperature. Likewise by spring when you've just about come to terms with the cold, your body has to re-adjust to the heat again!!!! You never really get used to one or the other. In the tropics the temps don't turn that much. It's the rainy season that can get you down.
I, for one, would love to live in the tropics again. It's not for everyone but thank goodness we're all different eh!
oh a word about the word saudades for those of you who don't speak Portuguese...Fernanda is quite correct that there is no equivalent word in English (can't vouch for other languages) But it's meaning is something like a deep longing and missing for a time/place/person/thing. More than longing and more than missing. Interesting to know about the welsh word for it. Have I missed anything Fernanda?
My Kochia are starting to turn red. How can i extend my summer? It can't be autumn yet its not far. I'm not finished yet.
Is that because the English don't long and miss things very much???
Well I think we have an icelandic word that means about the same: söknuğur - I'm feeling a deep longing for a longer summer at the moment. Mike if I knew how to extend summer I'd tell you! My roses aren't done blooming! Three of them haven't even started yet! About this time of year I really want to just build a large greenhouse over the whole garden - that would extend summer quite a bit - but a bit expensive!
Heheh I know what you mean i'm putting heating into my greenhouse later this week. Not really sure what the best way is. i hear all sorts about filling water bottles with salt water to hold the heat and if you paint the back wall black it holds heat but if you paint it white it reflects light into the greenhouse.
Do i add fans to the roof to push the heat back down. Also circling air through glass during the day stores heat and releases it during the night.
I'm confused and i don't want a huge electric bill.
Move countries? Just kidding.
The thought has crossed my mind many times!
Mike, I havr two huge water carriers in my greenhouse, those plastic type things you take camping for storing water in? I don't know scirntifically if it works, but I have no problem over-winterings things without any extra heat.Mind yoou, mine is only one of thosr little 8x4 greenhouses.
One wall, has plywood walls too(painted white) as I got fed up with trying to replace these panes of glass every winter when they got blown out, it butts up against a fence here.And the end bit , north facing , has a thick shrub growing up against it, so I think that helps to protect it from the worst of the cold winds also.
I did have a parafin heater in there, but kept forgetting to light it, so I gave up with it.
I've kept bananas, all my cuttings of the tender basket plants etc in there o.k. so far,(don't want to tempt fate here)
Hi!!! What a great thread!
Thank you Lizzy for translating the word saudade! That's just it! ;-)
And you know, I was born in Brazil - Rio de Janeiro, actually.. my parents lived there for nearly 30 yrs! Too stifling for me, though! But of course, altough my parents are portuguese, Brazil will always be special to me! Isn't that a coincidence????
Rannveig, I found it delightfull to know that you also have a word for saudade! How do you pronounce "söknuğur"?? You know, I've always been very curious about icelandic culture and mythology, and I believe there must be a common root between our cultures, probably through the norse/celtic branch. Maybe I'm dead wrong, but I've read quite a bit about these things and I'm hoping for the day when I have the time to take my researches further...! (probably when I retire LOL)
As for the english language not having such a word, I guess that words have a meaning that goes way beyond simple translation - it's more of a cultural background that breeds the feeling behind the word.. and feelings are universal, I believe. There must be a way to express the same feeling in english - only perhaps it isn't condensed in a single word!
But I'm rambling on - sorry!
As for changing country - I'd trade you northerners any time LOLOL
Rannveig - I think there's a place here in Portugal which you'd love - the island of Porto Santo. It's a great place to take small children on a vacation. It's very calm, and the weather is simply perfect - never too hot (it rarely goes over 28º or so) and never too cold. Sunny enough, but there's always a cloud or two to keep it soft. And the ocean! OOOOoooh! Lovely smooth waves, warm waters (around 24º, sometimes more!)!!!
I was there last summer and I'm planning to go back next year!!
i looked it up - its Madeira's sister island and looks fabulous Fernanda. No wonder you're going back!!!!!!
MyHi, Porto Santo sounds like a wonderful place to visit! I have to do some research on that!
Söknuğur is pronounced something like suknouthour - u like in hurry, ou like in would, th is soft like in this. Does that make any sense? It's not quite right - I can't think of a word in English that has the icelandic u sound - our vowels sound different - but close enough!
There is a common root in norse mythology with Odinn and Valhalla and all that. Ofcourse we pride ourselves on still speaking the old norse language that all the scandinavian languages have evolved from :-) Ofcourse Icelandic has evolved as well, but it is closest to the original and while the other scandinvian languages have adopted new words from english we've created new words with icelandic roots. For example, telphone is telefon in Danish in Icelandic it's sími. Our culture is a bit different from the rest of Scandinavia I think because living conditions in Iceland were so very different. We have the sagas and folkstories that were passed on from generation to generation in the dark sodhouses during the long winters. It was a very hard life and I think there is a really strong sense of pride with the Icelandic people to have come so far in such a short amount of time. From being the poorest nation in Europe (and being very badly treated under Danish rule might I add) to being one of the most prosperous with a very high standard of living. We literally went straight from the dark ages to the 20th century.
Rannveig, it's wonderful to sense such pride in your words about your country! You know, I still have that somewhat romantic notion that the future needs proud nations - I think those are the least likely to enter in conflict with others (there are certainly exceptions, of course). A bit like people who know their worth and don't need to show it off!
And so it gives me a good feeling to see other people proud of their nation and culture. It makes the world sooo much more interesting!
Do you think a trip to Iceland would come out enormously expensive?
By the way, your pronounciation tips were perfect - does the "u" sound anything like the swedish/norwegian? I've heard those languages spoken and I think I remember the sound.
Lizzy - where in Brazil did you live?
Oh, and all of you - do come to Porto Santo, it beats the Algarve (I don't like it there) anytime! But don't expect anything too fancy, with a vibrant night life or anything like that. It's really quiet. But the restaurants are faaabulous!
And guess what - it's cheap! (half the price for the Algarve) :-))
Thanks MyHi - Iceland is one of the few countries in the world that gained it's indepence without a conflict. Ofcourse we did claim independence in 1944 while Denmark was occupied and there were voices heard that thought it a bit rude. ;-) Yes I think our u sounds similar to that in swedish and norvegian.
I'm afraid Iceland is terribly expensive! We traveled around a bit this summer and decided to stay in guest houses and summer hotels instead of camping because a) it's reallly cold at night! and b) it rains a lot during summer :-) Anyway - hotelrooms are very pricy! One night in Hotel Edda which is the cheapest you can find (they're boarding schools during winter -so they're very plain dorm rooms) - is 53 GBP (78 Eur) - and that's just two beds and a sink - very crowded. The girls got matresses to sleep on the floors at no extra cost - but then there was no more room on the floors! Gas is also very expensive if you want to do some sightseeing - rentals cars as well - and it's expensive to eat! Icelanders love traveling abroad because everything is less expensive than here - especially in Portugal and Spain.
Porto Santo sounds wonderful - I'm definately going to check it out! (We thought the prices in the Algarve were cheap!)
oooh Rannveig! I think I'll have to wait a few years before I can plan my trip! Creepy prices!
The Algarve is probably cheap enough for you icelanders - but considering average prices in Portugal, it's plain highway robbery! And not worth your money too... Everything is crouded, noisy, and not my idea of a place to rest at all.... :-(
78 Eur for two narrow uncomfortable beds and a sink is highway robbery! But you take it because it beats lying in a tent freezing! Hope you do get a chance to come here one day - the sights make it worth it ....:-)
Even a pint of lager in Iceland cost about 7 gbp.
We stayed at the raddison in Iceland and loved it but realistcly for us 4 nights is like 1 week in the rest of europe.
Nearly killed a littlle hire car. There are just no roads in iceland. Its like off road everywhere great fun.
Every bit of road has a sign that says something like blind head. I took to mean you couldnt see oncoming stuff.
Bought an electric heater today for the green house got a few days off now so going to make it all work and it will be like the tropics soon.
Mike