Last day of Summer

Waaah, it's the last day of Summer, at least by how we reckon the seasons in the U.S., where the seasons change at the equinoxes (Spring and Fall) or the solstices (Summer and Winter.)

I've been seeing the signs of Summer's departure for weeks now. The sun has been rising gradually later and later each morning, and now is still below the horizon when we return home from our dogwalk - I think. Since Ivan blew through, we've had thick morning fog that hides the morning sky entirely. I still stop each morning to pluck a blossom or two from a Honeysuckle vine in an alley a few blocks from my house and draw out a droplet of nectar (a trick I learned as a child, and I hope you did too), but now the blossoms all seem to be withering and drying out. Temperatures have been dropping, especially these past few days - yesterday it was 42 degrees Fahrenheit, at least according to the bank thermometer I walk past each morning between 5:35 and 5:45, which a month ago was consistently displaying readings of negative 100 degrees F.

Fall is a gorgeous season around here. Maybe I'll get some photos of the flaming foliage (or, as we say 'round these parts, foilage) after the leaves have turned. The cool, dry Autumn air is far more to my liking than the hot and humid air of July and August, and the astronomer in me should be happy for the longer nights that afford more time to observe the night sky. But I will miss the summer, and the sunshine...but not too much. It is too easy to wish your life away a quarter of a year at a time waiting for the next season, and the next.

Besides, it's time for the Bloomsburg Fair!