Summer's Last Glow

Summer's Last Glow
Originally uploaded by surfinsandy23

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1
This year has been a year of seasons of every kind, and it's not over yet!
There are physical seasons we all see as weather, and there are spiritual seasons we each experience, often alone, sometime with others.

Physically, this year began much like many we have here in Kentucky; mild, sometimes cold, but often warm enough to grill something outside. But that normality didn't last long, and by the time the first month came to an end, winter played a cruel hand on us.

When spring finally came I looked for our dogwood trees to bloom. One usually blooms white, while the other blooms pink. This year they didn't bloom. They weren't damaged very badly by the ice storm, so I don't know why they wouldn't bloom. It was a part of spring I had looked forward to, and I missed it very much.

Summer has been mild for us this year. No drought has plagued us this year, which is a relief. But the pendulum swung far the other direction, and for many parts of the state, floods were almost the norm. In my yard, floods did not occur, but the cooler air and extra clouds has effected how the garden has grown this year. The summer mantra everywhere this year has been, "it's been a bad year for tomatoes". Even so, I have an abundant amount of cherry tomatoes being processed in my kitchen this week, as the little red bombs grow like weeds in my yard!

August has just slipped away from us, schools are in session, and the air is changing. When the wind blows, the walnut tree gets more bare, the nights are getting cooler and it feels good to sleep with windows open again. I see squirrels hunting for walnuts, and the starlings are beginning to flock.
In my spirit I feel the windows closing. The days I used to spend surrounded by my children are fading. One more has left home. He hasn't gone far, yet, but I am feeling the emptiness that eventually comes to all mothers when their children leave home to make their own way in the world. I am left to finish raising one more, and look forward to the days when they all come back again. Their voices are sorely missed here, but they will return again!
Who knows what the remaining months will bring us, here, weather wise and other wise. The signs are all around us, the seasons are changing already. There are still plenty of warm days left, but the cool ones are creeping in.
So get out and enjoy the warm days, the cool nights, and each other. For the end of a season is not the end of all things. New things, new people, and new experiences lie just ahead, around the corner where we cannot see them waiting. Take time to enjoy the changing of the seasons too!