Still waiting…

The season of autumn is taking its good ol’ time getting here. Like, did it take the longest way, the scenic route, the road less traveled?

Maybe I’m impatient but as I sit here writing this post, I’m dressed in summer attire – shorts and a tank top – (in October!) and I’ve been decked in this garb since 6:45 this morning. October mornings should be chilly and brisk, not clammy and warm.

As much as I want to shove summer’s temperatures and humidity far, far away and relegate it to the “been there, done that” list for the year, summer still wants to hang out with me. Why??

What part of no doesn’t that season understand? Apparently, summer didn’t get the memo that Mama is tired of it and is waiting not so patiently and with wringing of hands for the cooler, crisper, crunchy leaves, nutty aroma of fall.

I mean how I can enjoy jaunts to the apple farm/pumpkin patch/fall festival events with my family and our two adorable little grandchildren like we tried last weekend when it’s close to 90°?!?

Usually by now, our deciduous trees have juiced up their color-turning capabilities and are flaunting their leaves turned golden, scarlet, amber, and russet.  But as I gaze outside our windows, I still see green, green, green everywhere.   

Several maple trees adorn our two and a half acre yard here at Mama’s Empty Nest, and in the fall, they become the loveliest orange-red. But absolutely nothing has transpired yet.

On my early morning walk with my friend, we noticed a couple trees with a hint or two of some color changing. But we also noticed some trees possessing a branch of colored leaves were already dropping those to the ground. No! That’s not supposed to happen yet!

We’re wondering if we will have a fall season at all. Will it just turn blustery cold and we’ll jump-start into winter?

If you believe the old tale about wooly bear caterpillar colors predicting the severity of winter weather, that might be true.  According to legend, more rusty brown segments on Wooly foretell a mild winter. But the more black segments little Wooly has, we’re in for severe winter weather.

So far, I’ve noticed a few totally black woolies and a few with brown middles and black on both ends. So I guess it’s a toss-up. 

I won’t mind winter weather, but I’m not ready for that yet. Just let me enjoy my favorite season of the year first –  beautiful, invigorating, refreshingly crisp autumn.

It’s time for change. It’s time to move on. It’s time for fall to take its rightful place. Didja hear that, summer??

“…and all at once, summer collapsed into fall.” ~ Oscar Wilde

 (YES, PLEASE!)

©2018 mamasemptynest.wordpress.com

When summer goes to bed

Now that’s a real flower bed!

The heat and humidity were sent packing for a couple of days this week when the leftover traces of Hurricane Florence breezed into our neck of the woods. 

My heart goes out to those who lost so much in the throes of that storm and I’m grateful to live where I do where the only after-effects we usually receive from hurricanes are a bit of rain.

I’m hoping summer is fading fast and ready to be put to bed. After all, the first official day of the autumn season is in sight.

I’ve never hidden the fact that I am not a summer lover. I’d like that season better if it was mellower and didn’t grab us, thrown us down, and hold us in a headlock of sweltering weather.

“When summer opens, I see how fast it matures, and fear it will be short; but after the heats of July and August, I am reconciled, like one who has had his swing, to the cool of autumn.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

So of course, I am more than ready for a change of season. In my book, you can’t go wrong with fall. But even saying that, there is one thing I will miss about summer.

Not my garden, but isn’t it beautiful?

The bright blooms in our flower garden, the little bursts of colorful wildflowers that grow on the sides of the roadways, and when there’s enough moisture throughout the season, the verdant color of green leaves and grass.

So before the reds, golds, oranges, and yellows of autumn start flaunting their gem-toned colors, I’ll offer up one last tribute to summer’s blossoms. One last hurrah. And then I want to send it off to dreamland.

“Summer is a promissory note signed in June, its long days spent and gone before you know it, and due to be repaid next January.” ~ Hal Borland

While Papa and I were vacationing in New England, it was still June and summer’s colors were in abundance. The lovely scent and pretty pink of sea roses along the coast of Maine caught my eye.

And the plethora of spiky purple, lavender, and pink lupine we viewed all through our travels up north garnered my attention and begged to have their photos taken.

But it’s time to say farewell to them all. And welcome to fall. And I am ready.

“When summer gathers up her robes of glory, And, like a dream, glides away.” ~ Sarah Helen Whitman

©2018 mamasemptynest.wordpress.com