Seasons of Change: the Good and Bad of Having Opposite Seasons

There was a long hail storm in winter, but luckily I missed the worst of the winter weather.
Photo by Erin Grigson

I feel so cheated. It's like when you're playing Monopoly but you don't get to pass Go and collect your $200.

I left the states in June, got here and immediately went into winter. The heat of a South Carolina summer straight into New Zealand's freezing wind and cold. With no central heating.

My heat blanket was on every. single. night.

My body was not ready for that shock. And what's worse than summer to winter? Now I have to do spring again. And this past spring was rough.

I've not had hay fever for a few years. And then it hit me hard while I was visiting my family in Kentucky. South Carolina humidity has its perks and the lack of pollen and dust flying through the watery air is one of them. (Yes, there is pollen, but it's not the same as in Kentucky.)

New Zealand is not humid. It's dry. So now I'm dealing with the allergies that were destined to return.

My little garden box
Photo by Erin Grigson

Sneezes for days. Literally.

These beautiful roses surprised us!
Photo by Erin Grigson

I love fall. And instead, I get 2 springs. Not a good trade at all.

Wrapping my mind around the months being different seasons now is very difficult.

Halloween is in Spring here, so no jack'o'lanterns. So sad.

Christmas is in the summer, which means instead of holing up by the fire, we will probably head to the beach around then. (Yay!)

However, there is good news about 2 springs.

I've never had a yard or a garden. Now, while it's small, I have room to grow food and flowers.

When we were shopping back in late August, we bought lots of seeds. We got some for broccoli, sugar snap peas, lettuce, green beans, cucumbers, and sunflowers.

Josh and I both enjoy these green vegetables, so it just makes sense to try and grow our own.

(We were planning on doing potatoes, too, but finding a barrel to brow them in has become an issue.)

Why sunflowers, you ask? I've always dreamed of going to a sunflower field and doing a photo shoot. Since there isn't one anywhere close to me here I figured I could at least line a fence with  them and get a great backdrop for photos.

Two months into spring, my garden is blooming in amazing ways.

These sugar snap peas are going insane!
Photo by Erin Grigson

The sugar snap peas have taken on a mind of their own. I can't even begin to control them. There will be no shortage of sugar snap peas in this household.

The lettuce is also pretty big now.

The sunflowers are growing, slowly but surely. The strawberries we bought already grown, but they will hopefully bloom in a month or so. In the top of the strawberry pot, I have some cucumbers growing. The broccoli and green beans are looking pretty great, too!

The other good thing is the mystery. We are finding out all the beautiful things that are planted around our house.

We just saw these amazing white roses that blossomed on our back deck. It was like they appeared overnight... but it could have been the amount of rain we had that kept us inside for a few days.

Hopefully my body can handle the rest of this season and can make it to summer/Christmas!