暖冬cool夏
這裏一年四季溫暖如春，沒有酷暑沒有嚴寒......
來美二十多年了，南加冬暖夏涼，幹燥怡人的氣候讓我幾乎忘記了夏日炎炎是什麽感覺，直到女兒最近提及。
六月底，北太平洋西岸女兒居住的城市迎來創記錄的高溫。據新聞報道，熱浪高達一百多度，熱得地麵都裂開來好幾塊。我以為女兒搬的新公寓有空調，開始也沒怎麽在意。周二在公司上班，想起來給她發了個微信問候天氣，才知道她住的地方沒有空調。為了躲避炎熱，她白天去公司上班，晚上靠著電風扇過夜。她說，很多同事去了酒店避暑。還說，西雅圖的夏夜不像加州晚上會涼下來。最後還來一句，"(It) reminds me of Beijing".
在她所有去過的中國城市裏，她獨獨記得北京的夏天:)
那是2010的夏天，我一個人帶她回國，從上海到浙江老家再到北京，走過的這三座城市裏，北京的夏天最恐怖。也有可能是因為在北京，我們一直在外麵走的原因，抑或是碰巧那幾天北京很熱。不過留在我們記憶裏的北京夏天，天永遠是灰蒙蒙的，太陽終日被厚厚的雲層遮擋，桑拿般的悶熱讓人無處可逃。那日去長城，被像濃霧一樣的霧霾鎖住的長城沒有了我們想象中的雄偉和逶迤。又一日去頤和園，我們一路不停買著水買著冰棍，常常是一手拎著剛剛買的冰凍的水，一手拿著老冰棍，靠著冰棍和冰水走過夏日炎炎的北京城和景點。。。
那一年女兒十五歲，相信北京之旅的一切都在她記憶裏。但她一定不記得廣州的夏天。而我卻依稀記得那個因著潮濕，夏日一天要"衝涼"三次的地方。那一年女兒七個月大，我帶她從父母家回廣州上班。剛到沒幾天，女兒渾身上下便冒出一塊塊紅紅的濕疹。那時住在教工宿舍二樓的一間單間，房間裏雖然裝了窗式空調，但是這種隻有晚上睡覺才開空調的房間裏是有蚊子的，它們常常喜歡在夜間活動，比如半夜在我給女兒把尿(國內那時的孩子早早就potty trained了)的那一瞬間，伺機而入，鑽進蚊帳與我們共寢。而我實在是太困了，明知道嗡嗡叫有蚊子，也不願意開燈起來打，倒頭接著睡，任憑它們在蚊帳裏叫著叮著。等著第二天天大亮，發現吃飽喝足的蚊子趴在蚊帳上一動不動，這才恨恨地死命拍打著，直到打到兩隻手的手心、牆壁的蚊帳上血跡斑斑。。。
女兒也一定不記得一歲半帶她回老家的那個夏天。而我怎能忘記，那個我生活了二十多年的故鄉。那裏的夏天一樣悶熱無比。記得那時父母家住頂樓，經過一天太陽的暴曬，頂樓的熱氣到晚上還遲遲不散。入夜，我不敢拿電風扇對著她吹，生怕她感冒扁桃體發炎，隻好拿一把蒲扇不停地給她扇著。後半夜自己實在太困太累了，拿著扇子的手扇不動了，可我一停下來，一旁的她就開始哼哼唧唧。不得已我又拿起扇子，扇扇停停到天明。。。
想起小時候家中沒有空調，沒有電扇，沒有冰箱，那時的夏天是怎麽過來的? 被這裏的天氣寵壞了的我是回不到從前了，不想女兒今夏卻在北岸遭遇了百年不遇的高溫。我之前說過好幾次讓她回家工作一段時間的，可她又說工作忙得要死，有時候老板要求來公司開會，走不開。。。不過，要感謝十年前的北京之旅，讓她在見證北京繁榮的同時，還讓她記住了難耐的盛夏滋味，以至於今日在太平洋西岸再次相遇也能淡然處之，見怪不怪了。
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結火龍果。
6/29晚開花了，裏麵的花蕊花粉特別多。因為低，我拿著刷子一遍遍授粉，希望它因為靠近根部，近水樓台，果子能長得大一些。
第二天花謝的樣子：
6/27/2021 這支火龍果因為去年摘果子時搞得傷痕累累的，結果還把它給剪了，不料抽出兩朵花咕嚕：
謝謝你的誇讚，女兒中文一般般的。看到你的"三夏"，很熱鬧啊，cool夏酷暑都是夏啊:) 問候遐西！
我們有很長一段時間都是暑假回國，真是飽受熱浪蚊子的滋味。
女兒中文好棒！
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，剛剛才看見你回大漠長河的留言，知道了，我也去弄點自製肥：））謝謝暖冬：））
谘詢一下暖冬，火龍果要施什麽肥呢？是到店裏去買嗎？我就是澆水，沒經驗：））
火龍果喜歡陽光，喜歡你給它們搭架子(要結實一點，以後可以掛果)，另外好像也喜歡酵素(自己做，就用果皮爛葉加紅糖，水，放進有蓋的桶，不要太緊，要偶爾排氣，一到三個月就可以了)，如果枝叉太多要打掉。今年我家的火龍果開花早，五月就開始開了，記得第一年是八月才開花。所以要有信心。火龍果最好養，連老鼠都不敢吃，因為怕刺(對了，昨晚那隻大老鼠黏在老鼠膠上，結果還掙脫了，老鼠真是惦記我家後院:))
寫多了，謝謝大漠!
當媽的都不容易啊，養個孩子要少睡多少覺啊
節日快樂!
上海的夏天也是悶熱潮濕，尤其是黃梅天。我還記得小時候的蚊帳，蚊香，還有半夜熱得睡不著，爬起來吃西瓜（小吃貨現圓形；），用冷水洗澡。。
— 母愛是偉大的，做母親是一種不可替代的體驗……
是的，人需要排汗排毒，有個說法是高溫會殺死體內的癌細胞。出出汗真是好的，2017年帶女兒回國，因為太熱，她一兩個星期內就瘦了七磅左右，盡管在國內吃的好。所以不要常常待在空調房裏，人體太舒適也會失去原有的抗衡機製的。謝謝思韻妹妹的留言，周末快樂!
我們都是同齡人，吃過苦，記憶裏的這些一碰觸就會浮現出來，南京的熱，江南的濕，悶熱難受，這樣的日子都過來了。南京的熱我還沒怎麽體會到，因為學校放暑假了，可有一年南京的冷，零下七度，沒有暖氣，晚上睡覺被子不夠暖和，把衣服都穿上還是冷。
火龍果有早晚的，今年我家的特別早，記得第一年開花是在八月的，所以小小不急，多施肥，一定會有花骨朵不停冒出來的。
謝謝小小的留言和共鳴，長周末快樂!
我們這裏陽光好，種什麽都長得好，可惜我家後院太小了，就隻有這些，我都顯擺出來了。淡然長周末快樂!
暖冬的回憶也讓我想起了從前在國內夏天時的情景，是的，早年沒有空調，南京又潮又悶熱，一絲風都沒有，隻好任憑汗直流~~~~~~
暖冬慈母心腸，愛女情深，也深有體會，扇扇子扇到手酸手累，最後到麻木的機械運動。
還有國內的蚊子也猖狂，回想起來，那時我們真的很能吃苦，怎麽熬過來的？現在是太幸福了，感恩！
暖冬節日快樂！：））
我記得小時候半夜熱醒時發現母親正在為妹妹和我扇扇子，暖冬也是這樣的母親啊，你女兒很有福氣！
我還以為那是曇花呢，特別羨慕你們在加州的，什麽都能自己種！
暖冬寫得真好，滿滿的回憶。小時候住的老房子在二樓，直接太陽暴曬，晚上熱得不行，電風扇都開整晚。有的鄰居還到樓下天井裏搭床睡。最近聽說溫哥華附近的小鎮都熱得著火了。
你家女兒中文真好。你那個蚊子那段真是挺嚇人的，最怕咬了孩子。：）
是的，很熱，等我知道她的新公寓也沒有空調熱浪已經快過去。應該想到買一個便攜式空調的，還好就幾天，不過夏天出出汗也是好的。謝謝雲霞的留言和信息，Happy 4Th of July!
最近有些地方氣候反常啊，希望暖暖女兒那裏早日恢複正常的溫度。
火龍果的花很美，頭一次見，謝謝美文美照！祝美國獨立日快樂！
是的，氣溫一到100度上下，植物會灼燒的，我們家有一年roseberry的葉子就被曬傷過，太陽太毒了。不過北京的汙染太嚴重了，夏天更恐怖。謝謝尼斯的留言，祝夏安!
看見火龍果我忽然想嗬，國內空氣中灰塵微粒多光線都被折射了，所以天再熱也極少見植物葉子被灼傷。北京灰蒙蒙的天也有它的好處;)。這次高溫我家許多花草都灼出枯焦的斑塊，光線太厲害了:(
你女兒的中文很好，能跟你用微信對話。
這火龍果花確實很像曇花，隻是曇花單薄些，小一些，火龍果很容易種，秋水要不要試試，你家後院這麽大! 每一朵花骨朵都是欣喜呢，隻是我家陽光不夠，開始時種在盆子裏，想換大盆時發現根已經生到地下了，所以土壤也不夠，就這麽小小的，在我眼裏都是寶:)謝謝秋水臨帖， 秋水長周末快樂!
一景周末快樂!
火龍果花是不是有點像曇花？長的真好！又看到兩個花骨朵，也跟著欣喜：）
問候親愛的暖冬，長周末快樂！：）
對，周易的毛是俺親自設計，手工剪的。 給花園澆水時，順便給她衝個冷水澡。 她不吃冰棍，特意備了Smart Water ...
節日愉快！
你們那裏也這麽熱，真是百年不遇了，辛苦了! 給周易剪毛吧，不過估計能做的你都做了。這兩天應該涼下來一些了。
謝謝一景留言，長周末快樂!
(冰鎮一會兒再吃)
我們村也遭遇百年不遇的高溫，兒子基本上是冰棍，西瓜，酸黃瓜當飯吃。
可憐我家周易披著一身大毛衣，不停地吐舌頭哈氣，＂求皇上快點把俺打入冷宮＂吧。
喜歡暖冬對往事的回憶，心靜自然涼。