Minus three in July

I wonder
if I will ever cease to wonder
at winter in July
in Australia.

Yesterday morning
my shoulder poked out of the warm cocoon
of blankets when my husband got out of bed;
I felt the frigid cold of a winter morning and burrowed deeper.

Three degrees below 0 Celsius
the outdoor thermometer read,
which translates to about 26 degrees Fahrenheit.
Very cold for what is supposed to be a summer month where I come from.

Because my back is still healing
and needs to rest
I noted the cold temps as told me by my husband, then
happily stayed in my warm bed with a heated mattress.

The woodstove roared
after Steve stoked it with hard gum tree wood
but the blaze barely took the chill off
the pre-sunrise day inside our house.

My husband went out to his shed
getting his work ute ready for the day
then hurried back inside and called to me...
(snuggled deeper inside my warm cocoon)
"Come look at your flag! Bring your camera!"

Curious me.
I put on his bathrobe and then mine over his,
donned my thick socks and
wrapped up like a mummy, headed outside with my camera.

Icy droplets of dew had formed
on my star spangled banner,
frosting the field of blue with white,
the flag stiffly mounted on its pole in our courtyard that forms a square between the shed, garage, and house.





Dusty pink colored the horizon
as the sun crept over distant eastern hills.
I took more photos,
amazed that in July I am looking at a "January" landscape.




It reminded me of mornings I drove my two children to school
in Battle Ground, Washington state,
gingerly slipping down a crest on the icy road where before us on both sides
the grassy fields were white with frost,
looking like snow fell overnight.

Even the evergreen boughs of Douglas fir trees
bent under the weight of heavy, white frost.

But that was then.
And this is now.









Last Friday night Steve took me out to dinner at "our" place,
"The Hog's Breath Cafe" in Ballarat.
On the way we passed another cafe
that sported large windows facing the street;
inside it's lit dining area I saw a fully decorated, fake Christmas tree
and roped, gold tinsel swagged around a faux fireplace.

I did a double-take and said, "What the heck?" in amusement.
Steve smiled at me and said,
"Didn't you know? We have Christmas in July here."

I was speechless.