Winter 2016

This winter started early... We noticed its effects on the poinsettia trees and the guava tree in our back yard; the poinsettia “blooms” never quite reached their peak (quite unlike what we’ve enjoyed in the past years). And the last of the guavas were quite green when they froze while still on the tree...

But now in mid-August, in spite of the fact that “officially” we still have about a month of winter left, many trees along our Montevideo streets are beginning to bud...

Our favorite sweet gum trees are in that number!

Winter 2016 takes me back to the cold[er] winters I remember experiencing in my childhood and teen years here. Though temperatures don’t usually stay below freezing, they do drop and hover near there. But the typical high humidity – especially on windy days – that we experience, especially on and near Uruguay’s coast, makes Montevideo’s winter cold the kind that can cut right through you...

And this year we experienced several wind storms – with abundant rain and wind gusts reaching near hurricane strength! The first of those storms took down one of the three poinsettia trees in the back yard here. So sad...

And one evening during the last wind storm in late July, as I stood in our upstairs living area, I could feel the wind blowing through cracks around the closed floor-to-ceiling balcony doors – and blowing right past me and into the master bedroom! That night was extremely cold...

But I plan to enjoy the rest of the winter season – while I look forward to the promise of the beauty of spring...

“Bird of Paradise” flowers in the front yard brighten our winter months!