Fall at Last

I wait all summer for this time of year, when the heat finally breaks. Towards the end of August there’s a little something in the air that’s different, a hint that someday it will be safe to wear sweaters again. It’s not actually any cooler, but the breeze seems to hold a promise for the future.

This week, it made good on that promise.

We’ve thrown the windows open, and pulled out the winter clothes for the kids. It’s still warm in the afternoons, of course, but the ten day forecast doesn’t show us reaching 90°. Fall weather arrived just in time for Fall.

A break from the heat changes life around here. It’s suddenly reasonable to take walks with the kids after breakfast, and to continue working in the garden after the sun climbs up over the pine trees. The cool air makes me itch to tidy the house. (Goodness knows it needs it!) The kids spend even more of the day outside, riding bikes, chasing each other with sticks, and laying in the grass, reading.

This weather always feels like a new beginning to me, as if now, at last, we can actually get something done. Maybe we can finally pull the weeds out from around the blueberry bushes, or clean up the back porch so it’s useable in this beautiful weather.

Of course, by the time I get through all the day-to-day duties, and school work, and a little time for writing, the blueberries tend to keep their weedy undergrowth. (We like to think of it as “living mulch.”) But part of the promise of Fall is time – months and months before the sweltering heat comes back in May. Of course I won’t finish my to-do list before then (I never do) but I’m ready to make a start.