The wheel turns

I have railed against the changing of the seasons this year. I feel cheated because we didn't get real summer weather till about a week ago. 2 weeks ago it was only 50 degrees in the morning when I got up at 5:45. Now I'll grant you that's not frigid, but it isn't hot either. And I LOVE hot! I get energized in hot. Weird but true.

But this week has been making me feel like it was really summer after all. We have played with water balloons in the yard, done "fishing" in our "pond." Washed the car so we could squirt each other with the hoses. Played with water shooters. It has been fun. Saturday and/or Sunday weather permitting I will take them all to the beach. But there is a hurricane coming up the coast and it may rain this weekend so all of that is subject to weather.

I am glad to have at least had this bit of summer. The wheel of the year is turning, try though I might to pretend otherwise. It is a lot darker at 5:30 or 5:45 when I get up in the morning these days, and night is enfolding us more quickly. Twice I have heard geese honking as the premigratory flocks begin to gather on the pond down the street from us. The sumac is red. The flowers that grace our kitchen altar are different now too. We pick wildflowers at the park almost every time we go. The bouquets mark the progress of the seasons. Violets and mallow in the early spring, queen anne's lace and asters for high summer. Then suddenly the bouquets become studded with the bright yellow of goldenrod and I have yet another indication that summer is passing and fall is around the corner.

It is hard to be ready. But I am trying to embrace it. I really think it is important to find beauty in all the seasons, because the earth we live on is such a gift.