Redemption...

I'm thinking that simply by posting this, I'm jinxing myself, but just to update, the weather is fantastic here, both yesterday and today. Sunny, warm but breezy and the bluest skies I've seen in forever. When the sun shines here, the sky is this brilliant blue. I marvel at the colour, as it reminds me of the skies of my childhood. Yesterday, driving home from errands and not having seen the blue sky in a while, I just kind of stared at it and wondered what made it so blue. Was it perhaps the reflection of the water? I don't know why I couldn't wrap my head around its blueness, but I found it endlessly facinating. Then it hit me...

Smog.

This is a webcam view of Sarnia bay, in Sarnia, Ontario. Not really where I used to live, but close enough. True, it's an early morning shot, but I think it illustrates my point well enough. Smog.



This is a webcam view of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, not really where I live now but close enough. No smog. (I feel kind of like Grover from Sesame Street with his 'near vs. far' comparisons).

I looked up on the Weather Network website what the air quality warnings are for the areas I used to live in for today. For Sarnia, the main pollutant is ozone and the air quality is poor. For Windsor, same thing. If you were to see Southwestern Ontario on the Weather Network map, the entire thing would be this neon yellow blob of hideous air quality and smog advisories. I listen to a radio station online out of Detroit, Mich., not far from where I used to live and the humidity warnings and air advisories are out of control. People are going to cooling stations around the city if they don't have air conditioning and neighbours are being asked to check on the elderly. And it's not even July yet.

Then I searched Nova Scotia. Everything was N/A. Not Applicable!! Not even applicable. Well all be damned.

I guess my point is this...I can put up with a little rain if in the end it means I'll be able to breath this summer. And I'll probably be facinated by the little differences between 'here' and 'there' for a little while to come.