I think I missed spring this year. It is a time of year I really look forward to. Delicate blossoms, the heady scent of hyacinth, gentle breezes wafting down from the flowering trees. But somehow the spring season I crave escaped me this year.
I had a feeling of foreboding this past March, when it seemed winter was in an infinite icy grip here in Western NY USA. Then in April, the weather seemed promising, with one day spiking up to 87 Deg F, unusual here for that time of year. And on odd thing happened at that time too. The flowering trees here, usually pretty much in sync with early hyacinth and som tulip varieties, decided to do their thing early this year. So much for my favorite park landscape shots up at Niagara Falls, a favorite stop for me in springtime. Then the month of May was colder than usual here, sort of stunting the glorious tulip beds I like to shoot. Well I did get a few, but not the usual shots that make me swoon. June was off to a promising start weatherwise, and then last weekend, a heat wave here.
But even though I sort of missed springtime, I feel fortunate. We are better off here than people in Iowa and Wisconsin. Many parts there are under water because of storm after storm and heavy rains that just won't stop.
Weather trends here in years of late have been unusual. Just this past week, rains, hail, floods, and tornadoes in the Midwest, sweltering 95 degree urban heat in Philadelphia, and at Snoqualmie Pass in Washington State, snow yesterday. People blame global warming, my mother blames NASA and the space vehicles ;-) So even though a proper springtime sort of passed up by this year, I think I'll quit complaining about it. Because Here we are better off than most weatherwise, even with our famous winter snows.
