One of the biggest shocks we received was how seasonal everything is here.  That sounds a little obvious but seasons here are so deepseated and the year takes on this familiar cycle with festivals such as thanksgiving, specific jobs in the garden and house, and buying things.  We had to buy snow shovels and scrapers for the windscreens for winter as well as ice skates for everyone and snow clothes.  In summer we bought outdoor chairs, a fire pit and a barbeque  and in Autumn we bought a scarecrow and pumpkins to decorate the house.  At the moment it is spring and our neighbours are airating (spelling?) their lawns which means using a machine to make holes in it - of course my husband is now doing ours tomorrow!  We have been here two years and we are constantly watching our neighbours to find out what we should be doing next.  We had to learn about such traditions as Groundhog day - where a small furry creature is monitored to find out if spring is just around the corner.  I thought it was a film about an ever repeating day!

The first year we were worried about the winter and how we would cope.  In fact, we were more organised than our Canadian neighbours since we were so paranoid.  We found that once we had the right clothes and the right tools we could relax.  I’m going back to the old girl guide addage “be prepared”.  We wanted four seasons and we certainly got it - sometimes all in the one day just as a bonus!