Photo: Summer vacation with my family - barbeque and beer by the pool!

It’s getting harder to tell when summer has arrived these days - earlier this year, we went from snow to thirty degrees in about two weeks in Toronto! - but one thing that usually makes you realize that it’s summer in Canada is when all the kids are out of school for summer vacation (around the end of June). 

Normally, the parks, camps, and malls are full of kids, but last year and this year have, of course, been very different because of the restrictions and lockdowns. Canada is still lifting restrictions, reopening stores and restaurants, and slowly reopening, so summer doesn’t have the same energy right now. It’s been especially hard on kids.

Summer in Toronto usually means lots of festivals, parades, and other events, but almost all of them have been cancelled for the past two years. People have not been traveling or visiting cottage country as much as they usually would, either.  

So, it’s the little things that have been reminding us that summer is here this year, like enjoying a beer on the balcony and smelling the smoke from the neighbour’s barbeque or hearing the cicadas singing to let you know that it’s too hot to go for a walk! 

When I can hear lawnmowers running and smell freshly-cut grass outside, I know it’s summer. When I can find fresh Ontario strawberries and raspberries for sale, I know it’s summer. I also know it’s summer when I get the urge to go to where the water is, whether it’s a pool or a lake - that just doesn’t happen in any other season! Unfortunately, I turn red like a lobster after about 30 minutes in the sun! 

My friends and students around the world also remind me that it’s summer, whether it’s someone from Japan complaining about the terrible humidity or someone from Brazil joking about how cold it is (it’s winter in Brazil when it’s summer in Canada). Some people think that Canada is always cool, but it gets very hot in the summer here, too. This year we set a new record of 49.6 degrees out west! Even 30 degrees is too hot for me, though, so I’ll be hiding inside until fall arrives!