Summers End

It's raining and cooler, not cool, just cooler then it has been. Labor day weekend always seems to signal an end to summer, the final hurrah weekend at the beach, the lake, and maybe even the last cook-out of the summer. An end of a seasonal era. I feel a bit mixed emotionally, the summer flew by, I was so busy with life that it feels like summer went on without me, but summer is not my favorite season, the heat saps my energy....yet I wish it had not flown by so quickly. Not once did we sit out by the fire pit, fear of west nile virus kept me inside along with a level of exhaustion from all that has taken place in the past 12 months. Two weddings, 8 hospital stays for Melanie, two grandbabies born, one sick grandbaby, and yes her surgery is for tomorrow. I need a new season, I need falls bright colors, its crisp morning air, the fog laying heavy on the pasture. I need the cold wind on my face, hot chocolate, pumpkin pies and longer evenings with the wood stove casting its copper glow on the warm wooden floor. I need to feel the comfort of woolen socks and an over sized flannel shirt snuggling me. I want to smell cinnamon and cloves and kick up the fallen leaves like a child. I want to lay in the grass and watch the sky fill with gray clouds and see birds fly over my head heading south.
I am ready for a change, for a slower time, for cooler weather, for windows open again before the winters cold arrives. For sweaters, for large piles of wool before me to spin, for my bed to once again be piled high with down filled covers. For the good feeling of seeing the wood shed filled to capacity, for new hay stacked high, for the winter garden planted and pecans harvested.
Good-bye summer, I know its not official for a while yet, but I am weary of you.