I remember once when my dad was visiting that his fingertips
cracked and bled. The natural oils and moisture in his skin had been sucked out
by Calgary ’s dry air. I have heard
that a dry, desert like climate is good for some respiratory diseases, but not
so good for soft, eastern skin.
I was raised in the humid eastern part of Canada
and fondly remember how green and lush everything was. It still is by the way
and whenever I visit I marvel at the riot of vegetation that is everywhere.
Even the downtown concrete jungles have patches of grass that flourishes in
spite of neglect. We have trouble getting our greenery to flourish when we
lavish attention on it. I guess that is what 2100 miles can do to a climate.
For the past week or so we have had the benefit of a rainy,
humid climate. I just heard on the news that it will be with us for another
week until the Stampede is over. Sucks for the Stampede, but my lawn and garden
have never grown so well. I guess they would have if I took the time to water
them and pull the odd weed out, but I figure that if God wants to water and
weed the garden then he will send someone to do it. If He wants to give me a
winning lotto ticket, I will hire a gardener to look after my greenery and He
can spent His time working on eradication of starvation and cancer.
I have noticed that my skin is less dry and the skin on the
back of my hands doesn’t look like old parchment any longer. The inside of my
nostrils no longer have razor sharp bits that cut into the tender walls. The
weather probably sucks for people with TB, but not many people suffer from TB
any longer, just the anti-vaxxers and they is a dying breed. Literally!
I should be happy to have a moist climate but it just
doesn’t feel right. I am used to seeing brown grass in the middle of July, not
the painfully green stuff there is this year. The lawn needs cutting every
three or four days, thankfully, I broke down and bought a gas mower last year
and retired the push mower I had been using for twenty years. Life is just
easier that way. I have to worry about clearing down spouts which rarely got
any use in other years. Every day I have to go out in between rains storms and
pluck a bag of mushrooms from the lawn. I’m sure they have lain dormant since
the bison roamed the prairie. I mentioned the Stampede earlier, and the
attendance is down, profits are down and all of the vendors are down. I think
it might also have something to do with the massive lay offs in the oil patch.
I know this weather won’t last, can’t last. The snow pack
from last winter was minimal and this rain is topping up the aquifers and
putting smiles on farmer’s faces. The grass will soon turn brown and more than
likely my fingers will crack and bleed. It will be nice getting back to normal.
No comments:
Post a Comment