Climate Change

One part of living in different cultures is the different climates and seasons that I've been able to experience! Here in Ohio there are four distinct seasons, whereas back in the UK, some of them seem to have blurred into one another a little bit.

The summers here are long, hot and humid ... and my least favourite of the four seasons. It just gets too hot and sticky to function normally. It would be totally different if we were on holiday but when you've still got to do all the boring mundane stuff it's not as fun! When I lived in Tanzania it  didn't even get as hot and humid as it does here. The dry heat of Dodoma was much more liveable in, even with all the AC in America ... something I never imagined I would say before moving here!

The Autumn, or should I say 'Fall' is absolutely beautiful in Ohio. The Fall foliage is amazing and lasts a lot longer than at home. As it's not as wet as the UK, you get to enjoy and play in the crunchy leaves with the kids too which is always fun!

We have loved the harsh winters. Abigail especially has enjoyed all the snow. In fact, this year she was thoroughly disappointed as our third and final winter here was so mild that we hardly noticed it at all and she was all ready to spend hours in it and introducing Naomi to every possible way to play in it!

This week we celebrated the first day of spring and had temperatures in the 80's ... a good 20 degrees higher than the seasonal average. The flowers are already blooming in our garden as you can see below. Everything is fresh and lovely and we just want to be outside enjoying it!

One of the downsides of the this time of year here are also the storms ... severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. Something I'm glad we don't have the privilege of 'enjoying' in the UK! Our first spring didn't seem to be so eventful with regards to Tornado warnings but our second one (2011) certainly was, with several trips down into our basement, taking cover, just in case. Let me tell you pre and post-pregnancy hormones do not mix with tornado warnings. I got unreasonably stressed about it all and am thankful that I have such an understanding husband! 

We only have a few more seasons left here in Ohio to enjoy ... who knows if they will follow any kind of pattern for what we're expecting now or not. Then we'll have to learn something new for another continent and country!