21 September 2010

The Last Day of Summer

The sun's not up yet when the alarm goes off in the morning, and the leaves are starting to turn. The days really get shorter fast, this time of year. I'm resigned to fall.

I can celebrate winter -- even if it's gloomy, the days are getting longer. I can celebrate spring -- the trees leaf out, and everything goes green. I can celebrate summer -- the days start early and go late, and they're occasionally even sunny. But fall -- I'm resigned to fall.

Even in Michigan, where the crisp fall days were a welcome relief from the hot muggy summer, and the sugar maples in September looked like they had batteries, I couldn't help but anticipate the cold, dark days coming up. Once the leaves were down, fall was gray, gloomy, and seemed like it went on for a really long time.

Around here, the fall foliage is not nearly as colorful. The deciduous trees let go of their leaves without much fanfare. Scarecrow and Tuffy shovel them into limp, sodden piles that nobody would be much tempted to jump into.

Today is the last day of summer. I'm looking at blue sky outside my window. Fall doesn't start until tomorrow.

1 comment:

  1. Usually Fall is one of my favorite seasons, or I should say early Fall. I think of crisp clear days -- outings in the mountains where the leaves are crunching under foot and usually there are bits of new snow. Or I think of the "termination dust" of new snow on the mountains seen from the city -- can feel things shifting in the air.

    But, man oh man, this year. Coming back from sunny dry Colorado to this. It's like being transported to the middle of a grey wet November blanket.

    Hang in there til, uh, winter solstice. Happy equinox.

    Donna

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