I walk through this little park twice a day, and the sights and smells of all the newborn flowers fills my senses. The time between the blooming of the European bird cherry and the flowering of the lilacs is widely considered to be the most beautiful time of the year in Sweden.
It makes my heart so happy when the fragranced blossoms rustle in the breeze, floating their delicate scent around you as you walk.
In our home, I define our seasons according to our clothes. In winter we wear almost exclusively dark clothing. I have a washer-drier in the bathroom, and I usually only use the wash feature, then hang the clothes up in the bathroom. In a couple of hours, everything is dry, so I iron, fold and pack away.
When I do this, I notice the seasons.
In mid winter, almost everything you wear is dark in colour, and most of the clothes take longer to dry. Partly due to the cold but also because of heavyweight winter textiles. There are also many more items of clothing to wash in winter. Huge numbers of socks appear, thick corduroys, scarves, hats, thermals. Spring is unstable. Thus, you may have a few days you can wear lighter colours, lightweight textures, followed by a cold spell sending you running for the dark-coloured clothing again. Spring usually means mostly darks with a few lights in the mix.
Finally when all the washing that comes through my hands is white or light, with no sweaters, or socks hanging on my bathroom washing line, then I know – it is summer.
