End Days of Summer

Don't know that we had a spring. And some would argue we didn't really have a winter. The lack of moisture seemed to have effected everything. And when it came at last it was as if nature wanted to cram all the months past into one week. Friends are even already reporting the leaves of Aspens turning gold.

In the last week there has been a nip in the air mornings. Hoodies are again my morning computer time attire. And I washed the lap blanket for my legs. Time soon to dig out the house slippers from where ever they have lost themselves. Knowing me and them, under the computer desk or the easy chair. Which brings me to fall cleaning. And the often endless list of to do's before the snow flies. There is talk of an early winter.

And this year it is not just my end of summer tasks but those of a neighbor recently widowed. We debate what she wants to pay me for vs what I would do out of friendship. With luck we will have an Indian Summer and lots more time to get it all done. Though in truth it doesn't always get done every year. I look at my list and star some because they were skipped last year - like the draining of the sediment out of the bottom of the water heater.

In the last couple of days I have cleaned out behind the washer and dryer and gotten the link out of the insides of the dryer. I have pulled the thorny weeds from the back of my yard, and at last knocked down all the stored cardboard boxes and stacked them up to be hauled to the recycling center. And neatened up the framing wood on the rack in the hall. Those two things will make it possible to do the water heater. There is just a bit more wood to be moved to my new makeshift lean to for it. And a friend is stopping by with her trailer on the way to the transfer station so I can add my two bits worth.

Not bad for August. There is still September with good weather for outdoor tasks. And with luck parts of October. But this week is mostly going to be about now. Appointments and stuff. Return to business as usual which has not been usual all summer. Most of it went watching the skies and hoping for rain. Waiting for things to happen. Now that it has I am rather like the flowers; trying to sprout, bloom and seed all at once.