July 26, 27 & 28

Days 208 – 210 — It’s 7:47 Monday morning.  It’s going to be another cool day here in Bon Accord.  The weather we’ve had this past weekend made me feel like Fall is coming.  Saturday the high was 18, Sunday 16 and today — 17.  I took a look at the long-range forecast praying that it was going to get better, and, it does. Starting tomorrow there is a warming trend.  And it looks like it will last straight through the month of August!  Yeah!

It was so cool yesterday that I wore jeans, a long-sleeved denim shirt and a vest to work on the yard.  Tim wore a heavy sweatshirt while he worked on the pergola.  The sun barely peeked through all day, and it put me in mind of all those stupid dooms-day stories where the sun is blocked out by clouds of radiation or dust or whatever and the earth becomes a cold and miserable ball of straggling humanity that burns whatever it can find in effort to create warmth and comfort.  And there is no rainbow, ever.

Yes, I know.  A little drastic in light of a few days of cool, rainy weather.  But, still — this is July!  It’s supposed to be hot and sunny!  I’ll put on those jeans again today, finish my yardwork and be glad that tomorrow the sun will come out.

Wednesday, August 22nd — a lament for the end of summer

So, this is my last Wednesday of summer holidays.  Tomorrow will be my last Thursday and Friday my last. . .

. . .you get the picture.

I hate that summer and summer holidays have to end.  I live for summer, it’s my time of year.  Spring and Fall are nice, Winter totally sucks (except for the occasional beautiful day), but Summer, when it has been as fabulous as this one has (and even when it hasn’t) is the best season of all.

But it saddens me immensely when it’s over.

I guess it’s the kid in me, not wanting the endless days of sunshine and fun and warm, soft breezes; barbecued hamburgers and corn on the cob; walks to get  ginormous ice-cream cones from the local ice-cream shop; the sound of kids on bikes and frogs in ponds; hawks circling high overhead, their piercing calls cutting through the heat-faded blue of a summer’s afternoon; the bone-shaking rattle of thunder, and lightning so bright it makes you wince in wonder and fear; the soft patter of rain on a sultry summer evening — the sense of relief and joy that bit of cool respite brings;  flowers in the garden; tomatoes fresh and warm off the vine, their juices running sweet down your chin as you bite into them whole; family gathered on the deck laughing, eating, drinking; beer in coolers; wine in fancy plastic glasses; all of this and more — I can’t stand the heartbreak of it ending.

But, end it must.  Like Arthur’s Camelot it is but a brief and shining moment.  A moment that will sustain me through the long wait for its return.

Here’s a sampling of images from summers past and present:

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