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Summers in Cape Cod (Provincetown):
The sounds of the gulls over sand dunes. The smell of sea mixed with wild roses, which grow all along the shore. It's intoxicating. Falling asleep at night to the sound of three distinctly different foghorns - in between, I could hear the bell on a buoy. If I close my eyes I can still hear the foghorns. Sometimes it would be high tide when it was time for bed - the house was on the water, on stilts, so water rose right up under the house and lapped against the breakwall. Love and miss the boats - tons of wooden fishing and sailboats, handpainted in teal blue, red, white, and sometimes yellow. I get very "homesick" for the Cape, even though I never spent more than a month at a time there.
Family/Homesoil, Southern Illinois:
Miles of flat cornfields. The smell of barns and cow dung and hay, the calls of Bobwhites hiding in the fields. Hunting for crawfish in the little creek. The quiet, oh the quiet, and the heaviness of the afternoon heat.
Vacations in Nova Scotia:
The crisp, clean air smell of early morning - heavy with dew, mingled with the scents of the sea & the fishing boats on the dock. Wild roses are plentiful here also, as are blueberries and cranberries. The contrast between the wild blue of the sky in Fall with the flame-inspired hues of the foliage in October is thrilling.
Growing up in South Florida:
The sickly sweet and salty smell of brine in the marshes, where the fiddler crabs would come out and wave their supersize claw for a mate. Walking on the roots of the mangrove trees - best way to cross all the muck!
Considering I spent 28 years of my life in FL, I don't have much nice to say about it. It was never home. It's hot and muggy, like August, 9 months of the year.
Northwest GA, where I live now:
Oh the SEASONS! Here it seems the timing of all of the seasons is perfect. By the time you are sick of winter or tired of being so hot in the summer, the season changes. I love the crisp, cold air of a winter morning, the reassuring presence of warmth nearby in the smell of our wood burning stove. The chance of snow (never enough of it here) In Fall, I cannot get over how blue the sky becomes, I am intoxicated by the smell of burning leaves, and some years the colors are amazing. It's always peak color right around my birthday - Fall is my favorite season. The deer are moving, the leaves are falling and crunching underfoot (or under bike tires!).
In Spring I can never get over the color, the amazing gift every morning of a new flower coming into bloom, the smell of green in the air, the amazing number of birdcalls that announce Spring is here. I love the mountains. I love watching them change colors first - now the tops turn color before the valley does, in Spring the valley blooms before the mountain. In winter, the trees are bare and I can look out my window and see part of a ridge that's normally obscured by foliage.
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That was beautiful, grey :)
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I've been to a lot of places and each have their own uniqueness. England is amazingly green. I was only there a week but fell in love with both the North and the South (did I get that right?). The northern part of England is more industrial and the North Sea was beautiful along the coast. Kent and the White Cliffs of Dover are amazing. On the way back we flew over Ireland which is even greener.
I grew up in Columbus, Ohio. You get all four seasons there. Southern Ohio is beautiful along the river. Come fall, watching all the trees turn colors was fun.
I lived in San Antonio and Austin for a couple of years. If you even have a hint of snow, the entire city shuts down. No one knows how to drive in rain either. I love bluebonnets and miss them terribly. Winter really isn't "winter" as it only got down into the 40's. First year I was there I never even wore a coat and watched as everyone was bundled up like it was below zero. I miss the Hill Country of Austin as well. I DON'T miss fire ants. You can keep them down south. Nasty little creatures.
Southeast Nebraska is farmland. Miles and miles of it. It was culture shock to go from large cities to the middle of nowhere. You felt like you were being stalked by corn and soybeans. There aren't many trees out here and I miss that. You have to watch out for tractors along the highways come spring and fall and little old ladies in huge pickup trucks going 40mph on a 60mph road. You laugh when people complain about traffic and long lines here. Try sitting in rush hour traffic for two hours or more just to get 20 miles and then you can complain.
You get all four seasons here for sure. Winters can get pretty bad and the roads will shut down. Seeing all the snow is amazing until you get sick of it. It's been terribly hot this summer, above 100 degrees some days. You just watch your grass turn brown and not worry about it.
I love not living in a neighborhood Nazi organization. No one to tell you how high your grass can be or that you can't do this or that on your property. You don't have to have 6 foot high privacy fences either. I love this area more than I ever thought I would.
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DP and I have traveled to many places around the globe, and found wonderful things to like about almost all of them, but I do love my home state of Minnesota the best. DP and I were both orginally from MN when we met in Los Angeles. We took a trip to Alaska one year and came back thinking the same thing - what are we doing here? I do love the ocean and miss that, and our friends, but otherwise ... I love:
Four seasons
Thunderstorms
The Mississippi, over 11,000 lakes, and the North Shore of Lake Superior
Watching the sunset over a glassy lake and hearing a loon call
The Superior Hiking Trail
All our trees
Our prairie restoration project in the front yard which the city encourages
Bike trails galore
Riding along wide-open country roads viewing endless acres of corn, soybeans... and the wonderful green/earthy smell of the countryside
Piercingly brilliant blue skies
Watching the earth come back to life in spring
The smell of autumn and it's beauty
Snowfall (until March/April - then, we are ready for it to be done already!)
Watching the annual migrations of so many different species of birds and waterfowl
Riding down a bike trail and seeing a fox, wild turkey and deer - all within a couple of miles of each other.
I do love it here.
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One thing for certain, although it's not desert where I live, the air is drier year round than Ontario or British Columbia:
An open packet of pita bread...becomes perfect dry pita chips. You don't get mouldy bread.
I was back in Toronto for a few days last week. I was reminded of their thick tree cover.
I haven't yet figured out fall here in Alberta.....the temperature change during the day can be a difference of 20 degrees C or in Farenheit, it can be 40 degrees F in early morning and over 80 degrees F in afternoon.
