This English Summer

Last summer people continually informed me that the summer weather we were having was amazingly good. It was good they informed me, because coming straight from San Diego, I might not have realized our luck if they hadn't pointed it out. It wasn't that there weren't a lot of good days - there were. It just wasn't day after day of dependable warmth and sunshine like I've grown to expect from a summer.

Well, this year, I'm starting to see what they meant with all that praise. So far, we've had 12 days of rain since the official start of summer. Yes, I did actually take the time to look that up. It feels like it's rained harder and more frequently this summer than it did all spring.

My kids are less than impressed with their summer so far (I did tell them to look grumpy in these photos though, before you become too worried about them). But in the spirit of always looking on the bright side of life, here's my list of ways I'm appreciating our English summer:

* The weather is often so bad, it's comically bad. We do get some laughs in, out and about in the torrential downpours.

* I've noticed that no green spaces around here - gardens, parks, sports fields - have watering systems. My backyard doesn't even have a water spigot, like it never even occurred to anyone that one might need to water out there. Yet everything is as green as can be.

* I enjoy things like hot baths, hot chocolate, reading curled up under a blanket and watching movies. Here you don't need to wait until fall for such pleasures.

* If we were moving to England permanently, here might be the time I would start to panic. But knowing we'll be back in perpetually sunny California in only four months, I can chalk it up to part of my cultural experience. Got to get as much 'weather' in while we can.

* The sunny, warm days we do have feel like gifts from above. You just look around in amazement, and continually comment on the sun, on how summery it is. Who would think you'd get such a day in July?

And there's always a chance the good weather is just holding off until the kids are out of school in a week and a half. Right?