暖冬cool夏
这里一年四季温暖如春，没有酷暑没有严寒......
来美二十多年了，南加冬暖夏凉，干燥怡人的气候让我几乎忘记了夏日炎炎是什么感觉，直到女儿最近提及。
六月底，北太平洋西岸女儿居住的城市迎来创记录的高温。据新闻报道，热浪高达一百多度，热得地面都裂开来好几块。我以为女儿搬的新公寓有空调，开始也没怎么在意。周二在公司上班，想起来给她发了个微信问候天气，才知道她住的地方没有空调。为了躲避炎热，她白天去公司上班，晚上靠着电风扇过夜。她说，很多同事去了酒店避暑。还说，西雅图的夏夜不像加州晚上会凉下来。最后还来一句，"(It) reminds me of Beijing".
在她所有去过的中国城市里，她独独记得北京的夏天:)
那是2010的夏天，我一个人带她回国，从上海到浙江老家再到北京，走过的这三座城市里，北京的夏天最恐怖。也有可能是因为在北京，我们一直在外面走的原因，抑或是碰巧那几天北京很热。不过留在我们记忆里的北京夏天，天永远是灰蒙蒙的，太阳终日被厚厚的云层遮挡，桑拿般的闷热让人无处可逃。那日去长城，被像浓雾一样的雾霾锁住的长城没有了我们想象中的雄伟和逶迤。又一日去颐和园，我们一路不停买着水买着冰棍，常常是一手拎着刚刚买的冰冻的水，一手拿着老冰棍，靠着冰棍和冰水走过夏日炎炎的北京城和景点。。。
那一年女儿十五岁，相信北京之旅的一切都在她记忆里。但她一定不记得广州的夏天。而我却依稀记得那个因着潮湿，夏日一天要"冲凉"三次的地方。那一年女儿七个月大，我带她从父母家回广州上班。刚到没几天，女儿浑身上下便冒出一块块红红的湿疹。那时住在教工宿舍二楼的一间单间，房间里虽然装了窗式空调，但是这种只有晚上睡觉才开空调的房间里是有蚊子的，它们常常喜欢在夜间活动，比如半夜在我给女儿把尿(国内那时的孩子早早就potty trained了)的那一瞬间，伺机而入，钻进蚊帐与我们共寝。而我实在是太困了，明知道嗡嗡叫有蚊子，也不愿意开灯起来打，倒头接着睡，任凭它们在蚊帐里叫着叮着。等着第二天天大亮，发现吃饱喝足的蚊子趴在蚊帐上一动不动，这才恨恨地死命拍打着，直到打到两只手的手心、墙壁的蚊帐上血迹斑斑。。。
女儿也一定不记得一岁半带她回老家的那个夏天。而我怎能忘记，那个我生活了二十多年的故乡。那里的夏天一样闷热无比。记得那时父母家住顶楼，经过一天太阳的暴晒，顶楼的热气到晚上还迟迟不散。入夜，我不敢拿电风扇对着她吹，生怕她感冒扁桃体发炎，只好拿一把蒲扇不停地给她扇着。后半夜自己实在太困太累了，拿着扇子的手扇不动了，可我一停下来，一旁的她就开始哼哼唧唧。不得已我又拿起扇子，扇扇停停到天明。。。
想起小时候家中没有空调，没有电扇，没有冰箱，那时的夏天是怎么过来的? 被这里的天气宠坏了的我是回不到从前了，不想女儿今夏却在北岸遭遇了百年不遇的高温。我之前说过好几次让她回家工作一段时间的，可她又说工作忙得要死，有时候老板要求来公司开会，走不开。。。不过，要感谢十年前的北京之旅，让她在见证北京繁荣的同时，还让她记住了难耐的盛夏滋味，以至于今日在太平洋西岸再次相遇也能淡然处之，见怪不怪了。
Memories of Summers
Having lived for more than two decades in southern CA, a place renowned for its best weather, I almost forget how summers in China felt like, until my daughter mentioned it today. The city she lives in was lately rattled by unprecedented heat wave with the temperature rising into 90s and 100s. As I texted her asking if her new apartment has air-conditioning, she said that like more than half local residents whose homes are not installed with air-conditioners, hers is no exception, as historically Seattle’s summer does not need it. “I went to office at the day time to escape the heat, and when I got off work, it was 92F at home last night (Monday night, 6/28/2021). You know, mom, unlike in CA where the temperature plummets at night, here it hovers around long into the night.”
“(It) reminds me of Beijing.” She added.
For all the places she’s been to in China, she picked Beijing’s summer as an allusion.
That was the summer of 2010, when I took her to Shanghai for the World Expo, and then to Beijing for sightseeing. We never expected Beijing to be so badly polluted and its summer so blisteringly hot. The Great Wall was shrouded in thick foggy polluted air, losing all its grandeur the undulating walls would have otherwise given us. Throughout our stay there, we rarely saw blue sky or a bright sun. We felt like living in a suffocating heat dome. After joining a local tour for the Great Wall and Emperor’s tombs, we guided ourselves to the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Yuanmingyuan and such. As we trudged in the wilting city, we incessantly resorted to the Popsicle and iced water sold by the street hawkers. But the relief was temporary, and our thirst or body heat was never really quenched or cooled down. While our eyes might linger over the relics of the old city, our bodies couldn’t wait to get away.
Shanghai was not a lot better than Beijing though. It was a morning when we were leaving Shanghai to the states. But the temperature was already 38C, the sun, the humidity only adding to the intolerable heat. When we reached the airport, we were told that the flight was overbooked, and $250 (or $300, I could not remember now) was offered as a trade- off if we were willing to switch to the next day’s flight. I told my daughter that with this $500 or $600, I would buy her an IPad (that was year 2010J). She refuted resoundingly that she wouldn’t wait another minute to go back.
I should have told her the summers of my childhood, when we did not even have an electric fan or a refrigerator. The only luxury I had then was a radio, which accompanied me over many boring summer days and nights. To beat the heat, we took to water and bamboo lounge chair in the open air for the night, with a handmade palm-leaf fan in one hand for cooling and to expel mosquitos.
She probably won’t remember anything of her first three years in China, not to say the summers there. But I won’t forget the summers in Canton, bathing a couple of times daily and sleeping inside a net. Being potty trained early at the time, as most babies were traditionally, my daughter had to be woken up in the midnight for a pee. The minute I raised the net, mosquitos sneaked in. Most of the time, too tired as I was, I had to let them hum inside and sting us. When mornings came, it’s time for my revenge, slapping them one by one. The bloody stains in my palms and on the net only reminded me that they were actually my blood and the baby’s…
Gone are those sweltering summers in China, except that the memories tucked deep are now stirred and surfacing to the ground. ..
6/14晚: 第一次知道靠近根部也能结火龙果。
6/29晚开花了，里面的花蕊花粉特别多。因为低，我拿着刷子一遍遍授粉，希望它因为靠近根部，近水楼台，果子能长得大一些。
第二天花谢的样子：
6/27/2021 这支火龙果因为去年摘果子时搞得伤痕累累的，结果还把它给剪了，不料抽出两朵花咕噜：
谢谢你的夸赞，女儿中文一般般的。看到你的"三夏"，很热闹啊，cool夏酷暑都是夏啊:) 问候遐西！
我们有很长一段时间都是暑假回国，真是饱受热浪蚊子的滋味。
女儿中文好棒！
Thanks for sharing your story. So the pollution and horrible summers started decades ago. Looking back, we were all surprised how we lived through the time. People are more environmentally conscious now that they are rich and have money. I heard LA used to be badly polluted too, and look how nice it is now.
Thanks my friend for your visit and comments. You are one of the reasons that I push myself to write in English:))
remembered it so well. Did she also remember how much better the Popsicles
tasted because of the weather?
As early as May, it started to get uncomfortable. July and August were the
worst, just like what you saw on your trip. Humidity made it hard to sweat to
dump heat. There were no ACs back then and so nowhere to escape. Pollution had
become routine since the early 90s when I was studying there and that was when
cars started to spread. A couple of miles of bike-ride made you feel like taking
a shower.
哦，刚刚才看见你回大漠长河的留言，知道了，我也去弄点自制肥：））谢谢暖冬：））
咨询一下暖冬，火龙果要施什么肥呢？是到店里去买吗？我就是浇水，没经验：））
火龙果喜欢阳光，喜欢你给它们搭架子(要结实一点，以后可以挂果)，另外好像也喜欢酵素(自己做，就用果皮烂叶加红糖，水，放进有盖的桶，不要太紧，要偶尔排气，一到三个月就可以了)，如果枝叉太多要打掉。今年我家的火龙果开花早，五月就开始开了，记得第一年是八月才开花。所以要有信心。火龙果最好养，连老鼠都不敢吃，因为怕刺(对了，昨晚那只大老鼠黏在老鼠胶上，结果还挣脱了，老鼠真是惦记我家后院:))
写多了，谢谢大漠!
当妈的都不容易啊，养个孩子要少睡多少觉啊
节日快乐!
上海的夏天也是闷热潮湿，尤其是黄梅天。我还记得小时候的蚊帐，蚊香，还有半夜热得睡不着，爬起来吃西瓜（小吃货现圆形；），用冷水洗澡。。
— 母爱是伟大的，做母亲是一种不可替代的体验……
是的，人需要排汗排毒，有个说法是高温会杀死体内的癌细胞。出出汗真是好的，2017年带女儿回国，因为太热，她一两个星期内就瘦了七磅左右，尽管在国内吃的好。所以不要常常待在空调房里，人体太舒适也会失去原有的抗衡机制的。谢谢思韵妹妹的留言，周末快乐!
我们都是同龄人，吃过苦，记忆里的这些一碰触就会浮现出来，南京的热，江南的湿，闷热难受，这样的日子都过来了。南京的热我还没怎么体会到，因为学校放暑假了，可有一年南京的冷，零下七度，没有暖气，晚上睡觉被子不够暖和，把衣服都穿上还是冷。
火龙果有早晚的，今年我家的特别早，记得第一年开花是在八月的，所以小小不急，多施肥，一定会有花骨朵不停冒出来的。
谢谢小小的留言和共鸣，长周末快乐!
我们这里阳光好，种什么都长得好，可惜我家后院太小了，就只有这些，我都显摆出来了。淡然长周末快乐!
暖冬的回忆也让我想起了从前在国内夏天时的情景，是的，早年没有空调，南京又潮又闷热，一丝风都没有，只好任凭汗直流~~~~~~
暖冬慈母心肠，爱女情深，也深有体会，扇扇子扇到手酸手累，最后到麻木的机械运动。
还有国内的蚊子也猖狂，回想起来，那时我们真的很能吃苦，怎么熬过来的？现在是太幸福了，感恩！
暖冬节日快乐！：））
我记得小时候半夜热醒时发现母亲正在为妹妹和我扇扇子，暖冬也是这样的母亲啊，你女儿很有福气！
我还以为那是昙花呢，特别羡慕你们在加州的，什么都能自己种！
暖冬写得真好，满满的回忆。小时候住的老房子在二楼，直接太阳暴晒，晚上热得不行，电风扇都开整晚。有的邻居还到楼下天井里搭床睡。最近听说温哥华附近的小镇都热得着火了。
你家女儿中文真好。你那个蚊子那段真是挺吓人的，最怕咬了孩子。：）
是的，很热，等我知道她的新公寓也没有空调热浪已经快过去。应该想到买一个便携式空调的，还好就几天，不过夏天出出汗也是好的。谢谢云霞的留言和信息，Happy 4Th of July!
最近有些地方气候反常啊，希望暖暖女儿那里早日恢复正常的温度。
火龙果的花很美，头一次见，谢谢美文美照！祝美国独立日快乐！
是的，气温一到100度上下，植物会灼烧的，我们家有一年roseberry的叶子就被晒伤过，太阳太毒了。不过北京的污染太严重了，夏天更恐怖。谢谢尼斯的留言，祝夏安!
看见火龙果我忽然想呵，国内空气中灰尘微粒多光线都被折射了，所以天再热也极少见植物叶子被灼伤。北京灰蒙蒙的天也有它的好处;)。这次高温我家许多花草都灼出枯焦的斑块，光线太厉害了:(
你女儿的中文很好，能跟你用微信对话。
这火龙果花确实很像昙花，只是昙花单薄些，小一些，火龙果很容易种，秋水要不要试试，你家后院这么大! 每一朵花骨朵都是欣喜呢，只是我家阳光不够，开始时种在盆子里，想换大盆时发现根已经生到地下了，所以土壤也不够，就这么小小的，在我眼里都是宝:)谢谢秋水临帖， 秋水长周末快乐!
一景周末快乐!
火龙果花是不是有点像昙花？长的真好！又看到两个花骨朵，也跟着欣喜：）
问候亲爱的暖冬，长周末快乐！：）
对，周易的毛是俺亲自设计，手工剪的。 给花园浇水时，顺便给她冲个冷水澡。 她不吃冰棍，特意备了Smart Water ...
节日愉快！
你们那里也这么热，真是百年不遇了，辛苦了! 给周易剪毛吧，不过估计能做的你都做了。这两天应该凉下来一些了。
谢谢一景留言，长周末快乐!
(冰镇一会儿再吃)
我们村也遭遇百年不遇的高温，儿子基本上是冰棍，西瓜，酸黄瓜当饭吃。
可怜我家周易披着一身大毛衣，不停地吐舌头哈气，＂求皇上快点把俺打入冷宫＂吧。
喜欢暖冬对往事的回忆，心静自然凉。