Low rumblings of thunder sounded off and on all day, so when night fell and the thunder ceased, it felt more remarkably quiet. Then the crickets began their nightly concert, and even though the attic window was closed off to the heat, I could hear them chirping. This is the sound of August – one of the happiest sounds in the world.
On this Sunday night, I am posting this in real time, not my customary practice. It carries the capacity for danger – misspellings and mistakes – and the possibility of the imperfect, something I’ve been trying to embrace. A pair of air-dropped photos, taken from our ride back from Amsterdam, embody the end of our day. It’s still summer light, and then still warm even after the sun goes down. August is ripening gradually, the way it does in a good year.
Taking a deep breath to prepare for the work-week ahead, I sit in the attic by myself, and in silence – the crickets my own soundtrack, soon to be joined by the hum of the air conditioner in the window, which finally decided to kick on even at this late hour. We are in the full embrace of summer and enthralled to be here. Being present is another thing I’ve been working on, and it’s becoming a good habit, especially in the sunny season.
Whispers of fall are present if you are looking closely. I spied several clumps of goldenrod in tight bud, and our ostrich ferns have rounded the corner into copper – they lasted amid all the heat we’ve had (thanks to some rigorous and regular watering), but it’s finally proving to be too much, and they’ve already put in a solid season of bright chartreuse – it feels right to give them a break, let them burn into their coppery finale. Some years I will cut them back to give their space a cleaner look, but they ay still have a few weeks of foliage left, and if we get some cooler temperatures they may hold on yet.
For now, for this Sunday evening in early August, I write out this little blog post, saying not much of anything but reaching out to anyone who wants to read something of nothing before we go back into the real world on Monday.
Let’s keep the summer going… for now.
