“August, die she must.
The Autumn winds blow chilly and cold.”“April Come She Will” — Simon and Garfunkel
End of Summer by Santiago Uceda
Today is the first day of September. Summer camp has ended. School is in and yellow busses crowd the streets morning and afternoon. How did this happen? Only yesterday we were awaiting the start of summer.
Chrysanthemums have made an appearance at the local farm stand. My tomato plants wilted after days of rain and even my sturdy Trailing Tom has bloomed its last. Tomorrow I will clean up the dead plants.
Don’t talk to me about pumpkins or pumpkin spice anything. I’m not ready for slow-cooker recipes, stews and home-baked apple pie. Those things will come but right now I’m hanging on to summer by my fingernails.
Fewer Posts Last Month
The Next Phase Blog team has produced fewer posts than usual this month but not because we were basing on the beach or eager to get out of town, like the U.S. Congress. No, Suze has been working hard and was traveling. My time was commandeered by my husband’s knee-replacement surgery. He’s recuperating at home now but can’t really go anywhere for four weeks. Everything else—food shopping, picking up meds at the pharmacy—is up to me. Lots of driving time means not so much writing time.
Castrum Press printed one of my short stories in August. “The Good Citizen” came out in their Future Days Anthology. You can purchase it on Amazon and see my other printed work on my brand-new Amazon Author Page.
Even with all the other things we had to do, Suze and I did put some up good posts on a variety of subjects. We even tackled environmental pollution from orbital space to the bottom of the sea. Without further ado, here’s the regular roundup of August 2018 posts on The Next Phase Blog.
Roundup of August 2018 Posts
Boston and History
Business and Technology
- Ghosting and Schadenfreude in Hiring – Aline
- Wasted Time and Insecure Bosses – Aline
- Choose a Career with the Best Job Prospects — Aline
Environment
- Plastic Straws Whether You Want ‘em or Not – Aline
- Mount Everest: Not Everything That Goes Up Comes Down – Susanne
- Space Junk: An Orbital Trash Dump — Aline
Food and Cooking
Friends and Family
- When Friendships Come to an End — Susanne
Health and Safety
- Gum Graft Makes Grim News — Aline
Language and Writing
Lifestyle and Culture
Movies and TV
Hanging on to Summer
I refuse to accept the end of summer. It doesn’t technically end until Friday, September 21, anyway. Outside, the temperature has soared into the triple digits and some schools have released students early because of the heat. Here in New England we’re accustomed to snow days but not to hot-weather days. Crickets, unacquainted with the calendar, chirp in the warm dusk.
It’s still summer until that first cold rain and the leaves start to fall. I insist.
