Summer? It’s rained so much in Pittsburgh this summer I’m ready to harvest the rice paddy in our back yard.

Still three more weeks of summer to go, but having recently experienced early morning temps of 50 degrees in Maine before our just-completed return to Kentucky, where this morning it is 51, we know the feeling.
Yet, the realization of fall is here, and, as always, we are looking forward to its crispness, and the change into different clothing as the year’s third season comes upon us.
Thanks for your thoughts, as always.

Fall?  In SW Florida there are no seasons only Hot and hotter….the heat may decrease by a degree or two…but Summer dominates the weather here. The only thing is that from October till June it is the dry months.  Thank God for the rain…it is the only thing that cools us down and saves us from the expense of air conditioning.

It is said Florida would not be populated at all if it wasn’t for three things:  interstates, mosquito control, and air conditioning…

Sorry Dan…hope it drys up in Pitts soon…

I’m with #3—after 10 years in the Tampa Bay area, I’m still a little shocked to realize that we have about two and a half months of heat and humidity left in front of us.

The officials “seasons” are all messed up by about a month with fall beginning in late September, winter in late December, spring in late March and summer in late June.

But here in Dallas the weather has been far more like late September than late August/early September. It has been unseasonably mild—we’ve not had any of the usual 100°+ days for weeks now.

Does this mean we are in for a really nasty winter?

Kendall, I can only agree with you.  Here in the UK (you may remember this from your time at Keble) we have a long weekend at the end of August, with a holiday on the Monday.  So when it comes, as it has this year, right at the end of the month, it seems like the end of the vacation and back to work for the whole nation.  Consequently the phone has been ringing off the hook at the parish office, with everybody calling to make arrangements.  And oh yes the schools are opening (we have not one but two parochial schools) and all in all I feel that I am spinning round like a top.

So far “fall” has not really arrived here. I’ve yet to step out in the early morning and feel it in the air; the sudden crispness and clarity, a brighter bloom in the asters, and a lightness of spirit.  Maybe tomorrow.  It is a busy time for me; lifting and dividing iris, cutting back bloomed out Monkshood, Columbine, Delphenium, and Lily; and readying beds for the new plants that are arriving by mail.  I’m always glad to see the seasons roll round; rest from constant labor of one kind and the beginning of constant activity in some other fashion.  God is good! And all times are good because they are in His hands!  Frances Scott

K,
You’re just getting old.
p

Thank God our three granddaughters are back at school…....now maybe we can finally take that vacation trip that we’ve been promising ourselves!

The start of cub scouts for my son and a new dance class for my daughter and joyful expectation as we await our third child, a boy, due in late December…

Yankee Candle used to have a fragrance called Autumn Lodge that captured this feeling well.  I will be preparing for hunting upland birds soon with my old army buddy and my Dad (my Dad is 71 now, so this time is precious).  My deer hunting partner and I are starting to look forward to our annual adventure.  It’s time to get out the old Remington and make sure everything is tip-top.

Thanksgiving…perhaps a trek to Plimoth Plantation and/or Old Sturbridge Village.  A show at the Goodspeed Opera House is in the offing as well as a trip to Gillette’s Castle.  I think we shall also have a steam train ride at Essex and take the Becky Thatcher up river.

We usually have a trip to pick apples and get apple cider.  We also usually have a hay ride.  Then there is the annual cultural battle of All-Hallows-Eve.  We put together treat and toy bags with a little Christian tract inside and hand them out to all those children that the Lord sends our way. Heh, heh. 

Our annual Men’s Retreat (gosh, I hate to call it a retreat…it’s more like a throng or Christian Men’s Jamboree) is coming up fast.  Time with the fellows in the woods by the lake…time with the Lord.  Soon my son will join us…and then, my other son after him.

Life is sweet. 

Always in the back of my mind, I think that the Autumn is when the Lord will return.  The last shofar will sound at the Feast of Trumpets followed by the Day of Atonement.  Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus and gather us to yourself.

#10, thanks.  That was neat!  (Our men’s retreat is similar - more like a jamboree!)