You notice the days getting shorter, the nights cooler. You go to Staples and buy school supplies for your kids who don't even go to school yet just for fun! On the hottest late-August/early Sept days you turn your house into a hellhole while you cook spaghetti sauce and run the canner all day long. *locally*-The Canfield Fair starts, everyone indulges in french fries, elephant ears, and cavatelli bread bowls with garlic sticks. After the last day of the fair, school starts for most districts. All of the goldenrods and evening primrose go into bloom. So how do YOU know the end of summer is here?
When everyone else keeps reminding me that it's the end of summer. I'm Canadian. I don't want to hear that cold weather is just around the corner. Let me enjoy the warmth while it lasts. I spend enough time freezing my *** off as it is. ;-)
We do say "eh" but I've never heard a Canadian say "Aboot." I don't know who started that one. Then again I've never been to Quebec. Maybe it's a francaphone thing.
I don't consider summer over until the leaves start changing Sometimes around here you can't go by weather as a factor, last year it got to the 90s in September.
Makes me realize that I have a lot to get done before the cold weather hits! Been renovating the house we bought, and I still have a few major items to finish, like putting in a new furnace! (The old one is oil-fired.... and the tank is gone.) Still have lots of work left to seal up air leaks around the house, finish some work in the attic, and put the insulation back down in the attic. (been doing some wiring and ventilation work up there.)
Hey Canadian, I'm close to Quebec, and they don't say aboot! LOL So scratch that one out.. so who knows where it came from! I know summer's near when my harvest of garden is supplying me more than I was prepared for, so canning and presserving is constant for me! As for the leaves changes, yes, that is an indication, though the problem is right now I have noticed a few trees already doing that yet we are in the sweltering summer heat wave here in Eastern Ontario!
I thought of a few more: I am serenaded by a chorus of crickets in my basement while I fold the laundry. The cicadas are so loud my toddlers ask if it's raining outside or if there's a helicopter flying over the house! You go into Dollar General and they're selling Halloween candy and Thanksgiving knickknacks.
North Western Ontario... if you ever take a drive, and get past Thunder Bay, you will understand where all the American jokes about Canadians come from. My wife (then gf) and I drove across Ontario a couple years ago to visit my grandmother. (To all those Americans reading... Ontario is HUGE... several days to drive across unless you push 24 hours a day driving)... when we hit a small town west of Thunder Bay, we were surprised by: -# of American Tourists -# of Canadians who spoke with the crazy accent that Americans think we all have. It was very weird!
Oh Really dtom? I was in Kapuskasing about 20 yrs ago and I don't recall that. Mind you we were among the french part of Kapuskasing as it was a high school band exchange, so I didn't really notice it.
It might have something to do with my friends Bob and Doug .. :2thumb: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rp9MXoBNL8]YouTube - The Mckenzie Brothers: Take Off,Eh![/ame] ... and if you listen closely, you might be able to make out the aboot near the end of this one .. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-ZvAVcBIrQ]YouTube - Great White North - Topic : Great White North[/ame]
When the prevailing winds stay from due West and I can sail North past the Marblehead Light to Kellys Island and on to South Bass Island without tacking.:2thumb:
Not far enough west. We were in Vermillion Bay, heading north to Red Lake/Cochenour. (160km's on a county road... ) There is a huge 'tourist' business up there... hunting/fishing guides. Also one of the only places I've been where every gas station has 'Dry Ice' as well as regular ice.
I've seen some of the American sycamores around here starting to drop their leaves. Seems like they're the first to start with that.
