Being Italian when I think of summer I immediately hear crickets  and voices coming through the open windows. I feel the heat and the sweet laziness that it creates, see the blinding sunlight and dry grass. It is a different state of mind that lasts for a few months and is interrupted by late summer thunderstorms and followed by a fresh, renewed energy for the autumn months.

A typical Tuscan landscape

Here in Brussels I discovered that summer arrives for a few days during the year and you have to be quick to experience it and fully profit of it. I remember the first years I was astounded to see women wearing sandals and short dresses all of the sudden in April. Then I discovered that you have to pay attention to the weather forecast and dress accordingly because that week in April might be “the” only summer you might get.

What I also discovered and started to love are the different colours and light that come with this northern summer. The grass is green and luscious, the light is vivid and strong, the sky is blue like in a child drawing. Nature is in full bloom and weather is good but not unbearably hot. Life goes on like usual and is fragmented but these few breath-taking beautiful days.

My son running after ducks with rain jacket and boots  … this is June in Belgium!