It’s only 7:30 at night but the sky is dark and the world is bathed in rain. Thunder rolls through, killing my internet access from the lovely dish on the front lawn but that story was played out here several years ago. After a searingly humid drought, the rain has come and the earth is absorbing like a new sponge. Sleedles is irritated and slinks from door to door, testing the degree of wet. “I can’t find the OTHER outdoors, where it isn’t damp!!”
Alice cheerily gnaws on a “contractor bone.” (marrow bone from the grocer.) It is fairly cleaned of gooey stuff and there is a loophole in the “inside toys vs outside toys” rule when it is raining this hard. Not that Skeedles’ recent bounty of dead chipmunks is welcome. I have lived here ten years and have never had so much rodent-like wild life. Wouldn’t the smell of cats and dogs be a slight deterrent to wildly procreating with abandon? Gray squirrels are in abundance. Charlie loved the “Who Who’s” when he visited. They clattered and chattered above him in insolent rage. The bear have quieted down or moved on and the raven haven’t announced a second shot at parenting lately. The woods are eerily quiet. Summer is slowly coming to a close but the seduction of Fall with its last blast of color and warmth is comforting.
Therapeutic Misadventures 
Personally, as wonderful as Fall is, I am not ready to surrender summer…. Perhaps an Indian Summer is in store. Fingers crossed. Then again, that lure of crisp cooler weather, painted leaves, blue skies, no more lawn mowing, pulling out the favorite sweater sure is alluring… all in good time.
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Since your rather chilly visit, it has been in the 90s and humid. Glad I was able to provide a slight respite from the heat but knowing our days of warmth are numbered, I will not complain about the few we have left!
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Always, come this time of year with the god-awful humidity and temperatures in the 90’s, I am READY for fall. Cool, crisp autumn weather is so lovely and I, for one, welcome those heady blue sky days with open arms!
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So true Julie. We are having an extended stretch of rare 90 degrees with high humidity. Even the bees are hanging out on their “doorstep” fanning the hives.
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I can wait a while longer. I like fall but I don’t like comes after!
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Agreed, it would be nice if three of our seasons lasted longer than winter!!
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What? Summer coming to an end already? Love your wonderful description, and the photo catches the mood, but to this Californian it simply isn’t believable. We’ll be well into October when we experience our heat wave, and after that, we will have to change from our light-weight hoodies to the thicker sweatshirts. Amazing variation in this country of ours!
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Thanks Susan. I love the changes, just wish the winter would be shorter than the other three seasons!!
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I’m in no hurry to put away the shorts and sandals. As always, I am running out of time before I’m anywhere near out of chores to get done. I don’t know why the wood can’t split and stack itself!
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When you figure out how to train your wood to split and stack, could you stop by and have a talk with mine!!??
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Oh, good heavens, Martha, that line about the “other outside” had me rolling on the floor, as I’ve never actually thought about my animals with that level of interpretation before. That’s totally priceless.
And I’m with you, the fall beckons with this lovely come-hither finger. It’s seductive and I’m always so happy to see the first signs of its arrival.
Here’s to autumn’s cooling breath.
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Thank you Shelley, Fall will bring its own issues but that is why I love living where change is the only constant. Hoping for a few more lovely days of summer though I have seen the swamp maples beginning to turn red.
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I’m always sad to see the summer end, although spring is my favourite season with all that new life bursting from every crevice. This year we hardly seem to have had a summer at all and the berries are not a welcome sight. Soon it will be falling leaves I know.
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It has been a strange summer here as well, Marie. Extremes in weather and temps. Hope your fall is lovely!!
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Embrace the change, enjoy the contrast. Love your photos! Still cold here, but spring blossom out, we are getting close to our best time of year! Yay!
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Strange to think of you looking forward as I prepare for the chill, Nolsie. Glad things are starting to bloom in your corner!!
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Can’t wait, it has seriously been the coldest winter in 30 years, but the spring here is magnificent. Our summers can be extreme heat so the best times are spring and autumn/fall where we have mild 80 degree days and people stop hibernating. We snuck off to Thailand (Phuket) for a couple of weeks recently to escape the chill which was great, needed it. I was very pleased to see your honey success because I have followed the story intently and was sad when the previous lot didn’t make it. Keep going with it!
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