Summer of Storms

This has truly been a summer of storms. In my city, we have had almost constant rain since June, with little breaks of sunshine every once in a while. A vicious plough wind destroyed many of our beautiful old trees. Throughout the province, many cities have suffered massive flooding - images of people boating down their main streets flashed on our tv screens this summer. However, our disasters paled in comparison to disasters around the world. The "summer of storms" was world wide. We watched in horror as earth quakes hit Haiti, China, New Zealand and Japan. A volcano erupted in Iceland which caused world wide air travel to grind to a halt for over a week. Floods and mudslides caused havoc in Brazil, Pakistan and the USA. While it was not a pleasant summer for most of us, we are fortunate that our lives were not disrupted, that our homes are intact, and our cities are still standing. Knowing that someone else's weather is even worse, and appreciating that a cold, rainy summer is a blessing when compared to disasters around the world . . . it's a good thing.