Thursday, August 30, 2012

Summer Winds

There are markers along my summer journey. Every year, certain events key me in to the coming fall changes. Not just our entry into fall's brilliant technicolor coat - nature's last hurrah before winter locks all into slumber. No, it goes beyond that. Fall begins a journey of learning and discovery for me. Even though I am no longer an official student, having left those years long, long ago, I seem to move with the flow of all the young "interns" and settle into a pattern of studying something new or improving some skill already acquired.

The markers? Subtle shifts in the crispness of morning, the squirrels' frenetic gathering of nuts, and the influx of bees that seems to appear every August. Then there's the barrage of ads everywhere, and even the reminders laced into the stories on the comics page of the newspaper. Our family always went camping in August and I have a friend who plans a wilderness, solitary hike for rejuvenation every end of summer.

All of these remind me that it's time for me, too, to close some old books, start a new journal, clear the last of the weeds, put away summer's toys and prepare for the cozy days of winter.