Back in Australia

After a very cold, dark, icy week in England, I arrived back in the southern hemisphere this morning. 

Next week, most of the northern world will celebrate the solstice, when the days turn from growing darker and darker to lighter and lighter. Back in the southern hemisphere, we will celebrate the longest day of the year with barbecue, short floral print dresses, and beach time. 

Last week in the dark and the ice in the UK, I made sure to take my 10,000 steps each day, but it was hard. The sidewalks were too slippery for my usual outdoor walks, even if I didn't mind the burning cold inside my nose. So I would wake up early, with the jet lag, and crawl into the dark, windowless cave that the hotel marked with the sign "Exercise room", turn on the morning news show, and walk nowhere for 3500 steps while hearing about cricket and health care and a burst water main somewhere in the Midlands. 

Sometimes I would walk up and down the hallways of the conference building instead. It was startlingly empty. Once around took 1000 steps. Twice around was a nice way to pop the counter up to a reasonable number before bed. After prowling nowhere on the treadmill, walking the long gray halls of the conference building made me dizzy with speed. The doors whizzed by in boring monotony. 

This afternoon, back in Australia and feeling a little dizzy again with more jet lag, I walked around the park behind our house. I had to change into shorts first, because the temperature was in the low 30s (mid 80s F). The sun felt so so good on my bare skin. There were birds, and leaves on the trees rustling gently in the breeze. I wore sunglasses. The air didn't burn like a frozen poker through my nose, leaving dry crusty dead things behind. Instead it drifted in softly, massaging my sinuses, leaving a scent of flowers and trees and life. 

In England, I started thinking about Christmas break: huddling around the television playing epoch video games or reading long novels. But that's not what Christmas break has to look like here. Why waste so much sunshine on epoch video games? 

People keep asking me what it's like to celebrate Christmas in the summer. And I keep responding that it's great. I love Christmas. And I love summer. And in the southern hemisphere, I get to combine both. Isn't it great that the longest holiday of the year falls right on top of the nicest part of the summer? 

And for your viewing pleasure, I include a couple of family photos from the past 12 months. The one just below is from today. 

And below again is one from the very end of last December.

One of us has a new haircut, one of us has new glasses, and a third has turned from cute little boy into tall and handsome young man. I'm prodigiously proud of that third one, as if I could take any credit for this year's growth. It somehow just happened. Oh, and then we also lost my dad between the two photos, but I'm pretty sure I know where he went. 

I'm so excited for the upcoming holidays!