Note: Susanne’s regular Monday post will appear tomorrow,
September 3, due to the holiday.
I love summer. New England summers are short and we pack a lot into them. Even though summer begins officially earlier, we mark ours with Memorial Day and the end of the school year.
From there, I count down to Independence Day and the All-Star Game. After that comes the long stretch to Labor Day and the opening of school, not always in that order.
Records show that August is the hottest of the summer months but it never seems that way to me. The brilliant sunshine I woke up to in July has become subdued. Sometimes I think it’s overcast but that’s just because the sun has not yet risen above the tree line. In the afternoon, I go onto the porch or the deck to sit and read and find that it is cooler than expected.
The August Garden
Bumblebees and black-eyed Susans
My perennial border is snoozing after the July riot of color and shape. The red, gold, purple, and peach daylilies have turned to brown sticks. Only the rudbeckia are still in full bloom but even those gorgeous blossoms look a bit tired. A random blossom pops up on one plant of another, as if remembering that it’s running out of time.
The humming birds thrum around the petunia pots hanging over the porch, looking for late blossoms that have folded up. Now that September has begun, the giant sedum is starting to bloom and the bees throng it like humans around an ice cream stand.
Hurricane Dorian may come up this way, although it’s too soon to tell what its track will be. We will almost certainly get rain, though.
Roundup of August 2019 Posts
You have been away on vacation from your job and your computer. I can tell, because page views always drop in July and August. Despite the heat and the activities, however, Suze and Jackie and I have been writing steadily throughout August. We have published posts on a variety of subjects and this is your chance to catch up.
Here, without further ado, is my roundup of August 2019 posts.
Health and Safety
- Breast Implant Illness (BII): Be Aware – Susanne
- Humans Are the Largest Producers of VOCs in Indoor Air — Jackie
Lifestyle and Culture
Jeffrey Epstein: Crime and Conspiracy – Aline- An Open Letter to My Facebook Friends — Susanne
- Connecting the Dots on White Male Violence – Aline
- On My Mind: August 2019 – Susanne
- Holding on to August — Aline
Military
Movies
Travel
- Listening to Silence: A Wisconsin Retreat — Susanne
- Viking Longships: Mornings on the Sundeck — Aline
September Glories
Pokeweed in autumn colors
Now that September is here, we look ahead to apple days and crisp nights, warm sweaters and pumpkin spice everything, school buses and rush-hour traffic, Indian Summer and cider doughnuts.
Summer has gone and we have come back to our normal schedules. For many, fall is the best time of year and fall in New England has its particular glories. My writing team and I have a lot of good things to come. Keep reading!
