Requiem for Summer

Weather permitting summer is over. It is still hot but the changes are all around us. Days are shorter while nights are longer. Labor Day marks the end of freedom days.

The high winds of last week stripped the leaves from my cherry trees and there are more leaves drifting across the front lawn. Butterflies float over the hay fields on the currents during the day while the lightening bugs that lit up the night just a few weeks ago are gone. Summer is ending in many small and almost invisible ways it is slipping away.

There is a sadness in the air and a relief for the soul as we anticipate the glories and beauties of nature’s final acts for the year. We know winter is coming and look for wooly worms to tell us how hard it will be in the coming months but we have a reprieve that can change in a moment form hot and humid to cool and dry. Pundits say the number of fogs we have in August equals the number of snows we’ll have during the winter. At this writing my count is five but we have a few more days to go.

School is in session. In the days before air-conditioning school began the day after Labor Day. The big yellow busses are rolling. Bright young faces look longingly out broad windows at summer playgrounds left behind. Summer tans will begin to fade as more time is spent indoors hitting the books. Bands are marching in their intricate patterns across the grid as football teams take the field.

After the big weekend the boats will begin traveling north for winter storage. Few and fewer people will be coming to spend bright days motoring on the lakes and streams. Good fishing weather picks up for those who are free to enjoy a day dipping a line or a pole in the water for a new adventure.

Later hunting season will open with its various stages of small and large game that can be taken by what method. The old jokes (maybe) of farmers painting “cow” on their livestock had it origins somewhere in the annals of recording the trills of the big hunt. My advice is take care, brush up on your survival skills, and follow the rules so you can enjoy hunting again next year.