How To Confuse a Canadian

It's all so GREEN!

It's fall in New Zealand. At least that's what they tell me. The days are getting shorter and cooler. It's raining more often. My sweaters are coming out of hiding. There's fall stuff going on.

And yet, to me, it sure doesn't look like fall! Growing up in Canada, there was just no mistaking it. When fall came around, the trees changed into fabulous shades of yellow and red! Then, slowly, winter's approach blew those leaves from their stalks leaving the skeletal branches bare until spring.

Down on the South Island, rumour has it that this kind of fall ritual also takes place. But up here in Wellington there is not a crimson leaf in sight. Not in the city, not in the bush. And to me, it's just not fall. I came here prepared for the snowless winters (except in the mountains) but nobody warned me about the green trees of autumn! I'm a four seasons kinda gal, I like visual cues to back up what the calendar says.

I'm adjusting pretty well to my new life Down Under, but every once in a while something like this sneaks up and reminds me that life is different. Fall is when spring used to be, and it doesn't look like it's supposed to. Perhaps I need a trip to the South Island!