The Opposite of February

My mother claimed February was the month that members of her family died. Having lost both parents, several uncles, and a niece in February, my mother always got the blues as February approached. Looking back I think she might have had an inclination to seasonal affective disorder, but she did have an unhappy history with the month. So it did not take me by surprise when a teaching colleague told me early in my career that February was the longest month of the school year. Number of days on the calendar notwithstanding, she said, February would drag on and I would count the slowly-passing days until March. Though for most of the month we are actually closer to the the spring equinox than the winter solstice, spring is a fleeting image from a dream, a vision of mythic proportions. Only on March 1 does spring (and for teachers, spring break) become a promise that we can anticipate with a conviction that it is real.
Turn the earth upside down and February becomes August. Cape Town, with its climate that is variously described in travel books as "Mediterranean" or "much like Southern California," won't see snow. But it is winter. Unlike the rest of South Africa, this is the rainy season along the coastal plain at the foot of Africa's great escarpments. Days can occasionally be as warm as the 70s or 80s F, though average temperatures are usually in the 50s, and I am told nights are always cool. But when the prevailing winds come from the south and Antarctica, there can be spectacular rain and wind storms, and it can be cold.
August in Cape Town is the opposite of February, and instead of dreading its beginning, I can't wait. I hope the days pass slowly, although I expect for me it will be the opposite in that regard, too, and fly by.