Late Summer

There was a chill in the air the other morning and for a few hours it felt like fall. The light is changing, the days are getting noticeably shorter. The crickets hum in a background chorus outside. Summer is starting to wane, a happy moment for fall lovers everywhere and a sad sigh for the summer lovers like me. I could spend the rest of my life in sunshine and warmth by the pool or ocean and be a very happy camper. I don't love the massive heat waves, but those dry days with blue skies, a breeze, in the low 80's are the best. I'm going to enjoy all that I can while it lasts. 

We went on our annual family trip to Cape Cod... and came down with COVID. Womp. Womp. We had two wonderful days before waking up feverish, all four of us went down within hours of each other. We isolated and spent a lot of time enjoying the rental house and views of the sea, and went to the beach later in the day when it was empty and spent a lot of time resting. There are worse places to recuperate (though I would have much preferred to enjoy the vacation, and not have spread it to extended family). 

We brought home a few pretty rocks from the rock beach for the garden... this might be my entire dining room table. Luckily we went before we were struck down by the plague. 

At home I'm trying to balance getting a few things done with all the summer maintenance and summer fun. We finally finished painting the stairwell that connects the living room to the upstairs hall. Both of those rooms are the new soft silver gray, but the stairwell was still a warm toned edgecomb gray. It's a really tough area to paint because the walls go all the way up to the attic and we have high ceilings to begin with. These particular walls require the big ladder and no fear of death. Mike survived but apparently took risks I don't want to hear about because they give me chills (I have a terrible fear of heights and lousy balance). 

I decided my first back-to-school project will be photographing all the indoor house updates when I have the space to myself again. I have wanted to do it all summer but I've finally accepted that short camp days are not conducive to working full time, child rearing, knocking off daily chores and getting the house to a uncluttered state where I can take a picture without cringing. Plus... there's plenty to do outside. 

I chopped the oriental bittersweet vine that was growing up the porch post. I loved the look of it, but it was out of control. It pulled down the gutter spout, grew into the porch roof gutters and was making it's way to the main roof of the house. Nope, nope, NOPE. Perhaps I never should have let it grow, because its root system is actually too big to easily remove at this point (it's too close to the shrubs and goes under the porch, yikes). But I can attempt to control its growth going forward, keep it from taking over the porch again. I let it do what it wanted before, because it was green and pretty and I love vertical growth, but this time I will manage height and branches aggressively. Hopefully it can be pretty and not destroy the house. If that's too much work, then I guess we'll try to pull it up. Hopefully it's not as aggressive as wisteria?

We're in a drought here. It has barely rained in over a month and it's been weeks without even a thunderstorm. The grass is a crisp brown and crunches when we walk. The trees are going into that early-fall distress and changing colors. Unwatered perennials and shrubs are shriveling, some even dying (not mine!). I almost lost a few ferns and astilbe, not realizing that even the often-wet way back of the yard in the shade was completely dried out. The first couple times I watered, it didn't even penetrate because everything was so hard-packed. Until it rains enough, the sprinklers are now on rotation, hitting different sections of the yard each day so I don't lose anything. Rain is perpetually on the horizon, drying up and pushing out further and further on the calendar. Fingers crossed we have a rainy day sometime soon... maybe next week?

Late summer life is busy. Work, the house, the yard. No more camp. Trying to get in those trips to the pool. Setting up that last string of play dates with their friends before school starts. Sports practices are starting up soon. Attempting to get one more beach trip in. Ordering school supplies. Knowing there are just a few more short breaths of freedom and chaos. Soon we'll trade the pandemonium and heat for crisp breezes and full orderly schedules of school and sports in a steady march. 

It's glorious and fleeting, this beauty of late summer.