Coming to an end

Summer that is. We have been waking up the past few mornings positively shivering because we left all the windows open and the house is freezing. It gets cold in the evenings in August every year, and every year I am surprised. I am an old dog and no, you can not, in fact, teach me any new tricks.

The trees are laden with ripening apples. They aren't ready yet, but the deer and bears should have no problem putting on those last few pounds before winter. I feel a sudden urgency to go pick blackberries and see if my sister has any blueberries left.

We finally had a rainy day and I got the house almost totally clean. The weather has been so glorious this summer, I haven't wanted to spend even an extra second inside. When we have these perfect, Vermont summers, I go into fall and winter joyfully, because I have spent every summer moment soaking up rays, getting sun-burned, eating too many s'mores and hot dogs, watching shooting stars, hiking, fishing, camping, getting sweaty and hot, riding the horses, picking fresh veggies and fruits from gardens and lazing around. I start to crave the cold so I can get some things done. I start to want to hibernate and cook heavy, sustaining food.

The pond has gotten colder now that the nights are getting chilly. The first trees have started turning. Just a patch here and there, but it is the start, or the end, depending on how you look at it. But first we have a little left of August and the glorious, beautiful September which, year after year, proves to be the most spectacular month of them all.

School starts on Wednesday. I am not a big fan of starting before Labor Day, but the kids are beside themselves with excitement. Kai is going into 1st grade. He has a new teacher, a beautiful woman with two daughters who we know a little bit (flat out THE nicest little girls I have ever met) and if she teaches anything like she parents, Kai will have the best 2 years of his life! That's right, two years. We have combined 1st and 2nd grade at our school which I love. Not only do the kids get to keep the same teacher for 2 years, but they get to both have mentors and then be mentors. It's awesome.

Grace heads off to Kindergarten and will have the same fabulous teacher Kai had. We are very excited.

So, Noah and I will be on our own for a few hours Monday through Thursday. Something he has never experienced. My goal this fall is to make sure I have a little one-on-one time with each kid, because people, the time it surely does fly by.