Summer's Last Weekend

It kind of snuck up on me, this, the last weekend of summer.

View of the Covered Pool with the
Vestiges of Summer

I have been so busy enjoying the pleasant evening temperatures and humidity that I had forgotten that summer officially ends with the vernal equinox on Wednesday morning. Summer slips out quietly while we are sleeping--an almost fitting end for a memorable summer, leaving during the night not wanting to linger or get caught up in a long good-bye. 

Summer's demise comes with the completion of numerous projects, not the least of which was closing the pool. Except for a few peripheral tasks, the pool was successfully closed Thursday evening. 

But even tough it is covered, the scene around the pool reveals the lingering effects of the summer--the blooming geranium, the still green ornamental grasses, and the golf target standing tall in the yard. These will soon be gone and with the gathering autumn, my near weekly golf outings will become less frequent. The desire to get home after a day of work and get to the course will eventually evaporate as sunset continues to creep forward and then daylight savings time ends.

What a Picnic Table Looks Like After
it is Decomposed

As summer slips into autumn, there will be trips to the landfill to remove the broken and no longer functioning furniture and equipment that have collected during the busy and often frenetic summer. The first trip is today to remove, among many other items, the abandoned picnic table which has been sitting just off the yard for more years than I can count. It was heavy and needed some work to allow it to fit into the truck. 

Even as autumn arrives, I will still be dealing with the remnants of summer. Raking leaves and dreaming of golfing or being on a beach somewhere. 

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD