Summer Song

As of August 15, the little horse and buggy town I call home has officially declared:

“Summer is over!”

I can report this with the most certainty,

As I overheard at our friendly post office a snippet of conversation…

“How was your summer?”

Followed by the usual standard response…

“Yah it was good, toooooo short.”

(From me, the casual bystander in line a visceral reaction)

Now, I am trying to follow the logic of this.

Ok, the County Fair (highlight of the year in Siskiyou County) just ended.

School begins tomorrow.

Hm.  I could see why the Summer Post Mortems have begun…

In our local markets, pumpkin things and funny witch hats greet me as I enter the store for weekly provisions.

A sadness, a melancholy, slowly seeps in to my bones.

I am just about to buy myself a bouquet of flowers to console when…

The Farmer’s Almanac states that Autumn begins September 23 at precisely 4:21 a.m.!

It’s not time to say  goodbye!

Marion Woodman wrote about the way in which the modern pace of life turns the everyday into an abstraction.

I am here to say NO!

No to abstractions.

To be present in whatever season I am in.

But, to put Lovely Summer into her grave before her time?!

I say NO!

Recently, a teacher of mine commented that Summer is just now ripening.

She is–fullfilling her promise.

Her promise of beauty, warm sensuality, abundance in the garden,

and the necessary softness following Winter and Spring.

A time to exhale.

A time to inhale.

A time to put away woolens and dress lightly in linens.

A time to skinny dip.

A time to leave the cave and go outside.

And, I think, return to a (more or less) pre-conscious state of being.

So, instead of  flowers, I stopped by Juan’s Fruit Stand and purchased a watermelon.

Vox Anima, SDM

 

 

 

 

 

Music Credit:  David Brubeck & Louis Armstrong  “Summer Song”