a dutch woman in the ticino summer

this is my 17th summer in ticino. when i first came here i was so overwhelmed by the great weather. those july nights sitting at a bar in the piazza until very late without freezing like i was used to in holland(or maybe it was just the fuel i poored down that kept me warm?). without opening the curtains in the morning one would know the weather would be perfect, one could smell the sun in the air. it was very easy to get used to the temperature and not having to bring an umbrella where ever i would go in case of a little summer shower. then in august there would be a change in the weather. still warm but thunderstorms almost every night with rain pooring down like it would be the last day of the earth. and then the next day it would be hot again. ofcourse every year would be a bit different. when the boys were very small, i can recall that some days we just couldn't get out of the house because of the rain, which wasn't bad at times. but the summer would be nice and warm. then we had the hot summers like 2004, everyday over 35 degrees. those are the only ones people around here recall, and they will tell you it was always like that, in the old days(which isn't correct, i checked with a meteoman i know!). last year's summer was 5 days of sun and two days of rain. my sons and their friends didn't mind, doing a day inside with lego, computers, and doing whatever wasn't bad. being inside with rain felt like relaxing to them(those were their words!). and now the summer of 2009. yesterday i started to prepare my suitcase for going to the netherlands. and all my nice summer tops were still in a box waiting for the good weather to arrive. i have loads of sundresses and skirts which are hanging in my closet and would surely like to be worn. BUT WHEN??????? my legs are a little tanned thanks to tennis and a selftanning lotion. but i keep having to cover them up because of cloudy weather. and if it is finally a day with sun there is a hurricane wind. luckily i didn't come and stay here for the nice weather like many foreigners, because the way it is now i could just as well live in holland.

finally going home!

it has been decided a couple of days ago: i am going home with the boys(as in sons)! we are leaving in 10 days. i am so happy(i am sitting here, clapping my hands like a small child). it was august last year that i was walking on dutch soil! in my mind i am already in the car motoring along the 'route du soleil' in france, like between metz and thionville, going up and over the rolling hills. i am getting more and more hyper. making lists of what to buy, and that's why we go by car. on the aeroplane i always have trouble with being 'overweighed' a kilo or 20. i have to buy 'drop'(licorice as you can nowhere buy it), hagelslag(chocolate sprinkles to put on bread), tomatosoup, rookworst(smoked sausage), tea, tulip bulbs, etc., etc. i have to go to the gardencenter intratuin to buy stuff, a.k.a. things that will be cute, gather dust and are not very necessary for my hubby, but oh so nice for making my home and garden 'gezellig'(meaning cozy, but even better!). i have to buy clothes that are my style. i change books with my bookfriend(there are always 2 bags each filled with exactly ten books going back and forth). i am looking in the internet to decide with the boys where we will go and what we will see. we have our ceremonies, our things that we do there. like riding our bikes after diner about the city or walking and looking into peoples lives thru their windows(we dutch don't do curtains). we go to the different playgrounds, inside and outside. we are going to visit two cousins and their families. i am sooooo haaaaapy!!!!!! i will sit with my cousins for hours, sipping tea and talking loads, that'll be sooooo nice! talking about the past and whatever is going on now. i really miss my people and my country. i wish i could go there every weekend, but that would be to expensive. i like living where i live, but i miss 'my things' from back home!

tennis and thighs

i just started, after a thousand years, to play tennis again. i found my racket which i must have been bought over 15 years ago and it still does the job. there are some nice ladies with whom i try to get the ball across the net. i love doing sports, and this is a nice way for me to be in touch with women from 'le terre di pedemonte', the spot i live in. i don't like playing inside. for me the surrounding of the small tennisclub is a big plus: trees, mountains, a relaxing area. one of my friends is already calling our threesome 'the desperate housewives of pedemonte'. i think that's cute, since we're all doing the housewive stuff as a second job. the thing where i wanted to get to is the next: when you have a good look around the tenniscourts, there is one thing very strange if you think about it. isn't it that all women are very anxious about the way they look. at christmas lots of us have been totally pigging out. so then comes new year and we make a resolution: from january first we are going on a diet. how many get thru the first month? then comes easter with loads of goodies. we eat and eat. and when the first warm weather is hitting us, we get very aware of what there is still to do before fitting into a bikini. so we worry, we pinch our cellulite, we cry, we scream, we go to fitness centers. where would women show themselves in 'that' shape? not near a swimmingpool or on the beach, no way! but strangely at the tenniscourt they do. it seems that there is absolutely no shame. every woman wears a short skirt, and i don't mean a skirt above the knee. no, i mean a skirt where you can see the underwear without the woman having to bend over! and nobody is ashamed or selfconscious. you see your skinnyminnie-dried out-overtanned legs, the cottagecheese-jello-wobbly thighs, the spidervain legs, the milk white thighs, the rhino butt, the hairy extremities, and whatever else there is. and nobody gives a damn, it's like a turned around world. but at least there is one place where we can be ourselves without being tough on us that we are not good enough(even the perfect ones usually moan). hear, hear for the tenniscourts and the freedom of womens thighs!
by the way, i, DWA, wear shorts. i don't want to bother looking for perfect undies to wear. (when i was small i had the tennisundies with lace frills on the backside!) the shorts aren't for estetic reasons. they have great pockets to stuff 3 balls each. i don't like balls in my underwear, i'd rather have something else there:)