SUMMER'S END

All of today's schoolwork is checked off. The last load of laundry is flapping on the clothesline. A pot of chili simmers on the stove, ready for dinner later this evening. Finally, I have a few minutes to sit down and write. Is it really already after 5:00 p.m? Where did the afternoon go?!

As we begin week 5 of the new school year, the kids and I are pretty settled into a school day routine. With three in highschool, we find it takes most of each day to complete all our assignments. This being Monday, it also takes most of the day to finish washing all the laundry that has piled up over the weekend! And, yesterday being a festival day, we have all been a bit tired and slow about our work this particular Monday. Maybe I shouldn't be so shocked at the time. It's going to take a bit of adjusting, a bit of schedule jostling, to figure out how I can keep writing with the returned time demands of school, but I'll figure it out.

Walking back from a quick visit with Grammy this afternoon, I noticed a change in the air. It really is cooler out now, and the air is a bit softer - has lost that scorched, crackly feeling of a few weeks ago. Hmmm, school, milder temperatures...and this week we'll flip the calendar from August to September. Yep, summer is definitely coming to an end, fading quietly into fall. Here are a few more signs that fall is moving in -

The sassafras trees are beginning to turn. A sassafras thicket stands behind our house, the dark green leaves forming a solid curtain between our house and Granddaddy's barn. If you look out the living room window, you'll spot widely-scattered flashes of bright red among the dense green foilage. One leaf here, another way over there...one by one, the leaves turn bright red. Right now, the sassafras trees look like they're auditioning for a Christmas play, pretending to be evergreens decked with red decorations.

All the farm babies born back in the spring are teenagers now. The fuzzy kittens are almost as big as their mom. The little calves have grown into big rowdies. The fledgling Pheobes have flown away to start life on their own.

The horses are feeling frisky. Glad to be rid of the oppressive heat, they prance about the field with renewed energy. With the summer pastures burned up from months of drought, their interest in sweet feed has definitely increased, too!

Colleges and universities are back in session. My two oldest boys moved to campus this weekend, and had their first full day of classes today. And it was so nice to have several of the UTM students back with us at church yesterday!

Fall foods are beginning to sound really good. Chili for supper tonight - yum! This weekend, we made an awesome apple crisp for movie night dessert (we used Paula red apples instead of Jonathons - still, so delicious).

We can finally turn off the air and open the windows as the day cools into evening. Yesterday, a beautiful rainstorm blew up - so nice to hear the sound of rain coming through the open windows.

Speaking of windows, mine look totally disgusting. Spiderwebs, handprints, bug splatters, smudges - yuck. We wash windows twice a year: once in the spring, with the onset of warm weather; once in the fall, after a hard freeze has wiped out the bugs and spiders. It is definitely time to wash windows...thankfully, fall isn't too far away!

The sky is a softer shade of blue, the sunlight a little less brassy, and already the days are growing shorter. Any signs of approaching fall in your neck of the woods?