A fond farewell...

...to my favorite season of the year. After spending two years in a country where the natives consider 70 degrees "hot", I was overjoyed when summer arrived in Gettysburg. Real summer. With heat. And humidity. That's right, I welcomed the heat and humidity with wide open arms. I hate being cold. If my nose and toes are still cold when I'm standing in the shade, then it's not hot. That puts my register of "comfortable" at about 85, and my lower threshold for "hot" at about 95. This summer was almost perfect. Aside from missing Eric, the rest of the summer was ideal: not too hot, not too full of obligatory things like a job, and full of sun and flip flops and swimming pools and gardening and sleeping in summer pajamas and waking up to put shorts on and picking berries and all those other wonderful summery things.

But alas, all good things must come to an end, and there are definitely signs that the summer is over.

Sign number one: orange pumpkins in the garden

I picked the first three pumpkins out of my garden last week. Bright orange and full of autumny goodness, they are certainly a sign that summer is wrapping up. The rest of the garden is waning as well, and after a summer of novice gardening, I've come up with a few helpful observations. I'll post those later.

Sign number two: Rhys started school

Like, real school. Not preschool. Actual school. You know, one to which she has to ride a school bus. Kindergarten. She was overjoyed to be starting "big school", and I will admit that I was just a teensy bit sad to see her off for her first day. Then I brought Ben and Desi home and within ten minutes I realized that it was...quiet in the house. The twins were happily playing, Ben with some cars, Desi with a Mr. Potatohead, and it was Quiet. With a capital "Q" because such a silence it something to be revered. I held in awe for just a few minutes. And then a fight erupted in the playroom, and my trascendent moment was over. Rhys bounced off the bus just as happily at the end of the day, and is almost as excited about day two. If she's truly her mother's daughter, then the excitement will never wear off. (I was so disappointed when her school supply list has exactly one item on it: backpack. What? You mean I don't get to go shopping for school supplies? I have to wait until next year to buy all of those gloriously new folders and boxes of crayons and pencils and markers and scissors and gluesticks and notebooks? Bummer.)

Sign number three: festivals

The Apple Harvest Festival, Oktoberfest, the Gettysburg Wine and Food Festival, you name it, it's got a festival, and if it has anything to do with food, chances are good that it happens in the autumn because that's prime harvesting time for all things delicious.


Sign number four: mums

In every store. I think even the CVS had mums for sale. It's hard to resist the temptation. Yellow. Rust. Dark purple. I might have to cave. Sorry Mr. Bank Account. I know I said I'd love and protect you until Eric came home, but some promises are just too hard to keep.

So it's good-bye summer and on to autumn.

Now, truth be told, autumn is my second favorite season of the year. The crispness, the smell (which is really just decaying plant matter, but whatever), the apples and squash, the holidays, the sweaters, the return of delicious thick soups, I love it all. But after spending two years in a country that really only has two seasons (Damp cold and Damper colder), I've come to realize that I love autumn because of summer. The sweaters and the soups just aren't all that exciting if you haven't had the chance to get a tan and produce your body weight in sweat. But I've done those things this year, so I'm ready.

Bring on autumn.