Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Return to spring

We had an amazing return trip. What made it amazing was not so much the fact that we narrowly avoided turning a 3-car pile-up into a 4-car pile-up near Savannah, nor the fact we made it unscathed through torrential thunderstorms in North Carolina. What made it amazing was being able to watch the calendar being turned back from summer to early spring over 2 days.

We left the sunshine and 33C/92F temperatures in Florida where plants seem to flourish all year long. Gradually, we noticed that trees in Georgia and South Carolina displayed new foliage in that fresh spring green colour. And we saw leaves and blossoms just coming out in North Carolina and Virginia. Near Washington we saw cherry blossoms in all their splendour from which not even the concrete and asphalt corridor along which we traveled could detract. The trees in southern Pennsylvania were just starting to show buds, while those in New York state were still quite barren. We still saw traces of snow on east-facing slopes in these states as well as in Ontario. However, we carried some of that Florida warmth with us and today temperatures in Ontario reached 22C/72F !

Alas we had to leave the sunshine behind, and we were greeted by April showers shortly before we crossed the border.

(settings for both shots: 18-55mm  f8.0  1/320 sec  ISO400)


And another change that everyone who crossed the border sees:

(18-55mm  f8.0  1/320 sec  ISO400)

Note: unfortunately another change we experienced upon our return is our painfully slow internet connection. I spent 2 hours on the phone with our ISP Helpdesk earlier this evening - no resolution, but a service tech will be dispatched within 48-72 hours (!) This means I'm unable to visit anyone yet since it's taking a looong time to access blogs (or anything else); creating/uploading this post alone required 30 minutes ! I will visit as soon as we get this resolved ... surely a test of my patience !  Thank you all for your visits and comments.

19 comments:

Romantik Seelchen said...

hallo Rick, die Welt ist groß, ein Unterschied der Temperaturen, das Wachstum der Pflanzen, das Blühen der Farben in der Seele,
hier in Deitschland ist es warm, die Blumen des Frühlings blühen, auch die Kirschbäume zeigen ihre Blütenpracht.
aber der Regen ist gut!
nur Regen im Urlaub nicht!
viele Grüße von Jasmin

biebkriebels said...

Dat is fijn dat je de foto's van Amsterdam zo leuk vindt. Ik wordt ook een beetje nostalgisch als ik foto's uit mijn jeugd zie, het lijkt ineens zo lang geleden. Je hebt geen idee dat de tijd zo snel gaat. Sommige delen van Amsterdam zijn erg veranderd, maar andere verrassend genoeg, juist niet. Het is er wel erg druk geworden met veel verkeer en mensen
Jij hebt een leuke tocht door de seizoenen gemaakt van zomer naar lente. Savannah ben ik ook geweest, we hebben een tocht door het zuiden van de VS gemaakt een paar jaar geleden.

Hartelijke groeten, Marianne

Cat said...

Glad to hear you made it home safely. I loved hearing about your journey home as you traveled through the seasons. Especially easy for me to imagine the Cherry Blossoms. I grew up in DC and I do miss spring and fall there. Enjoy your spring. Hope your internet headache is resolved soon!

Elizabeth Grimes said...

Wow, that is quite a trip! But so neat how you can see the gradual changes in different regions.

becky said...

Glad you made it home safely! I always get nervous before a big road trip. How fun to see the spring after living in the land of eternal summer!

Cicero Sings said...

Welcome back to the northland ... where things are still on the brrrr side.

Saz said...

Wow, very subtle weather changes along your way then! Amazing shots! Sorry to hear about your internet connection, hope it gets sorted soon for you!

Ruth Hiebert said...

Welcome back to Canada.I do hope you brought warm weather back with you.
Internet problems are frustrating.I lose patience with things like that.Guess I need to learn to be more patient.

Leslie said...

glad you all made it safely home... and leaving summer behind is a good description of the weather back here in florida!

Soraia said...

Nice photos :D

Rick said...

Danke Jasmin - yes, a large creation for us to enjoy its many splendours ! And the rain will bring flowers in May. I hope your spring is warm and the flowers are coming out. Thank you for your visit - I will try to visit soon. Liebe Grüße von Rick !

Hi Marianne - bedankt voor je bezoek ! I agree that Amsterdam has changed in some ways since my visit there many years ago - we found it very busy too ! Ik kom gauw terug om meer fotos te zien. Fijne week.

Thanks Cat - I'd heard of the Washington-area cherry blossoms but hadn't seen them - quite striking ! No internet relief yet - we went from about 6MB in Florida to about 20KB here - argghh !

Thank you Elizabeth - it really was very interesting to watch the gradual changes along the way.

Lisa said...

Welcome back home to Canada. These were the sweetest words I heard at coustoms Canada after coming home from Mexico into Az and flying home form Calif.. last winter.
Nice image . Glad you made it safe. Im still recovering from my Car accident. I m very lucky. Happy Spring.

Rick said...

Thank you Becky ! Ha ha - yes, it is quite a change; spring seems a lot more subtle in Florida !

Nice to be back Cicero - and you're right about the brrr ;-)

Thank you Saz ! Yes - very interesting to see along the way. I'm trying to visit blogs as best as I can despite the internet issues.

Thank you Ruth. Seems the warm weather we brought along only lasted a day :( I hope this internet things gets fixed soon - it's really frustrating especially since we had true highspeed (6Mb+) in Florida !

darlin said...

That's quite the trip Rick, to see the different seasons in a matter of 2 days. Thank goodness you avoided the accidents and you made it home safe and sound.

Enjoy your day and the crackle of the fireplace! I hope you get your service for your net sooner rather than later.

magda said...

Welcome back Rick !!!
The problems will be overcome ...
I was glad to go through so many places, remote and interesting for me!
And the fireplace has its own charm!

Michelle said...

Glad you made it home safely. Sounds like quite the trial getting there.

Marisa said...

Even here three days the weather has changed. Gray days and cold. But soon the sun will shine again!

Jeanne Frances Klaver said...

Moody...I like it!

Rick said...

Thanks on both counts, Darlene ! We're still enjoying the crackle of the wood stove - going down to -7C here tonight. Our internet is working a little better but nothing approaching Florida speeds :(

Thank you Magda ! I'd prefer fireplace days to be over by now though ;-)

Thank you Farmchick !

Yes, I'm looking forward to that here too, Minu ! Ciao !

Thanks Jeanne !