My daughter is safely off to college, the
weather has become more comfortable, the days grow ever longer and the azaleas
are in full bloom. Finally, spring has truly sprung, and one of its most
relaxing pleasures is to take in all the beautiful flowers while having a cup
of hot black tea on the wood deck in my garden.
However, these relaxing moments seem to
happen less these days. We had a very long winter and too much snow this year. Last
week our area had unusually strong winds. Not to be outdone, the very temperate
central Tokyo area was pummeled by hail. Most unusual of all were the many
tornadoes that surprisingly struck the Kanto area in the early part of May,
something I cannot ever recall happening before. It looks like abnormal weather
is becoming normal in many parts of the world.