Spring is something like love in Sweden. Singing birds, dripping ice from the roofs, sun reflecting in the water on the streets (making it hard to look through the front window of your car), and children picking off their clothes quite too early. We usually have warm and sunny springs, but in the last several years there has been a lot of rain in springtime too.

Summer is “hot” 80-90 F but not as humid as in the US, at least from what I can remember from trips to Kansas where I have been twice in July. You can be outdoors in the sun to work, or rest, and you can be on the shore of any of our many lakes all day. I usually spend time in my garden. (In my bikini. We have a high and thick hedge around our garden.) When I feel like it, I can go across the street and cool myself in the river. When its very warm I stand for a while in the river like a water lily, with water up to my chin.  :  )   You can go canoeing during the summers in our many lakes and rivers.

At Midsummer in June, you can be out all night. In the light Swedish summer you can even read a book at midnight without a lamp if you want.

Then the fall begins in September-October. The rain comes and the wind, mixed with sunny and lovely days. We walk in the woods picking mushrooms of many kinds and sit indoors listening to the wind howling round the house. Sometimes at night you wake up from heavy rain tapping on your roof.  The leaves on the trees change colors from fresh green to yellow, orange, brown and bright red and suddenly one day the wind grabs them and throws them high up in the air just to let them down where you have to rake them up.

In November the darkness comes. It creeps to you and a shining candle or an open fire is the weapon you have to fight it. Often we get a little snow early in November and then it brightens up the world. But it gets even darker, and in the middle of December it’s dark almost day and night round.
But then we have Lucia coming! It’s a tradition we have just here in Sweden and on 13 December she comes with lit candles in her hair, wearing a white dress and her maids with her. They sing special songs for Lucia and Christmas songs as well. The snow comes, sometimes deep and stopping all traffic (though in recent years it has melted away several times during winter).  In January and February it can be very cold, down to 15 F, but we haven't had that yet this year. Skiing is popular, both cross-country and slalom.

In March-April we can count on getting spring and the first flowers peep up in warm corners of our gardens.  We have made the annual cycle.
Wouldn't you like to spend a year in Sweden and see it all?    :  )