“What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps one in a continual state of inelegance.”
Today is again glorious, cool and dry. The sun is strong. The sky is blue and unmarred by clouds. I’m going to sit on the deck and take it all in because by Sunday the ugly humidity will be back.
Today is the meteorological end of summer, and Labor Day is the unofficial end but none of that matters to Mother Nature. She will continue to blast us with heat and humidity until fall can finally work its way past her. I’m hoping it will be soon. Fall is my favorite season.
In Ghana we had the dry season and the rainy season. I lived where the dry season was hotter than any other place in Ghana, but now it is the rainy season there so the temperature in Bolga, my other home town, is the lowest it will be all year. It has been in the high 70’s and the mid 80’s there, and rain has fallen just about every day. It is odd to see it cooler in West Africa than it is here.
During my early Peace Corps days, I missed fall, the snow at Christmas and the freshness of spring. I missed flowers. But the longer I lived there, the more I came to love the changes in Ghana’s weather. The rains came intermittently in September. The fields and grasses began to turn brown. Every day seemed hotter than the previous one. By the end of September, it was the high 80’s. In October it was the high 90’s. The worst months, February through April, usually reached 100˚ or more. My favorite month was December. The days were hot, but the nights were cold in comparison. I needed a blanket. It was Bolga’s snow at Christmas. In May the rains started. The grasses turned green. The fields were filled with the young shoots of millet, maize and sorghum. The trees were green with leaves. It was spring, Ghanaian style. The market was overloaded with fresh fruits and vegetables. The tomatoes were luscious.
It has been a long, long while since I lived in Ghana so I have forgotten the horrific heat, those days over 100˚. Back then I seldom complained. I took my cold shower late, jumped into bed and fell asleep. Now I complain and moan and turn on the air conditioner.
That’s the way it was there, and now that’s the way it is here.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: beautiful day, Bolgatanga, dry, dry season, end of summer, Ghana, heat, humidity, maize and sorghum, millet, Mother Nature, Peace Corps, rainy season, Upper Region
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September 1, 2018 at 12:57 pm
Obviously, Ghana is in the tropics where there is only two seasons, wet and dry. We are in the ‘Horse Latitudes’, where we are supposed to get four seasons annually. However, since the middle of the last century our planet has been warming as a result of our continuing assault on the atmosphere by burning more and more hydrocarbons. How this changing climate will affect people in the tropics as well as the horse latitudes is an ongoing debate among the many scientists who believe in global warming. Oh, I forgot that the current crop of officials in Washington believe that global warming is fake news, or an alternative fact. 🙁
Yes, it’s the Labor Day weekend when we used to celebrate the achievements of working men and woman through labor unions. Since the 1970s labor unions have become a ‘dirty’ word in Washington and their membership has been dwindling. As a result the disparity between the very wealthy and the working class has become as wide as the Grand Canyon. The right wing has done a marvelous job convincing the vast majority of working white Americans that unions are communist and that the very rich will have their interest at heart when organizing businesses. They have turned the blame for low wages and poor job opportunities from the very wealthy onto minorities and immigrants. That’s the great lie that has led to things like the gig economy, low taxes on the wealthy and no benefits nor a social safety net for the rest of us.
Another hot and humid day with a very slight chance of rain in the afternoon.
September 1, 2018 at 8:32 pm
Bob,
Ghana is above the equator but it does have tropical weather. Even though some web sites call it the wet season, we called it the rainy season. I never heard it called otherwise. Where I lived had a single rainy season and a single dry season. In the south, there are two rainy seasons and the dry season which is not anywhere as dry as it gets in the north. The rains seem to come later than they used to come.
Labor Day is now for barbecues and get-togethers. I don’t know anyone who believes that unions are Communist. I have read that the unions are the cause of surging prices because they request better contracts with more money.
A wonderful day today, but it will start to get hotter tomorrow. We’ve had enough heat lately.
September 1, 2018 at 1:36 pm
Here’s an appropriate conversation for this weekend from my favorite local NPR station.
http://think.kera.org/2018/08/30/helping-others-unless-it-hurts-you/
September 1, 2018 at 8:33 pm
Thanks, Bob. I will give it a listen!! I am a fan of NPR!!
September 1, 2018 at 8:46 pm
This one hits the nail directly on the head.
September 1, 2018 at 9:14 pm
I’m not even doubtful given the source.