End of Summer

Its truly gone.  Last night we had our first freeze.  I woke up to windows that needed scraping, the heater running, and purple lips on one little one.  Summer was here and gone so fast I barely remember it at all.  After co-op today, the kids and I did a big yard clean up.  We took down the bean trellises, tomato cages, and soak hoses.  We raked up fallen fruit and found all the socks left all over the yard.  We cleaned "the fort" area under our huge pine trees and picked up all of the wood from projects the kids worked on all summer.  I wore a jacket all day, even in the sun and not once did I think of getting sunburned.  Summer is gone and in it's place is Autumn.  My favorite season of all.  The long shadows, geese flying overhead, squirrels scampering, and the colors make this season one of quiet and peace for me. There is still fruit in the trees and work to be done (a barn in our case that still needs to be raised) but it doesn't seem to have the same frantic pace to it as summer.  I look forward to Autumn all year long know that by the time October hit the calendar, I will be needing a reason to hunker down and call it a book day.  I will want to cook soups and stews, breads and pies, read books from morning till night and take pictures of shadows, leaves and the sky.  Autumn is my season.

So farewell summer, until next year.