Summer Still-Suddenly September

 “Summertime is always the best of what might be.” -Charles Bowden

 I know, I know, every Labor Day I fuss and whine, but here it is again-a summer sailed away without me on the boat and all I have to show for a summer lost are some mosquito bites. Today while I flip the calendar pages to September, yes I still do real calendars!, I think  didn't  I just turn those same pages to June? I am struck by time again... the time I never have to sit with summer, the time lost, the time I spend on so many things that just don't have my heart or my head but have to be done, the time to be with summer still.

Is it growing older that makes Summertime fly? How often in the past few days have you heard "Can you believe it is Labor Day?" NO! I CANNOT!  Someone go find me June, July... A blink and suddenly the skies grow dark earlier,  scarecrows and even bags of trick or treat candy are everywhere,leaves and acorns start to drop...and suddenly September.

 Labor Day weekend of course always feels like an abrupt and an unwelcome end to summer. For me this year it is particularly unsettling as summer 2019 was just so wrong in so many ways.  The weather caused my hair to look like a brillow pad , the news was, and is, a numbing continuous storm of anxiety and horror, and even the gardens of Camp MP lost their bloomin' heads-growing out of bounds like a jungle or in some spots showing no effort or joyful blooms where there should have been an abundance,as every critter ruled and burrowed and chomped away...and I was just plain grumpy along with it.  I can't even count on two fingers when I got to just sit and do a summer day, lazy days with a book-in fact the pile of books that called in May remain unopened.  
Can I get a Do-Over on summer 2019???  

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 "Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language." -Henry James

 I want to slow everything! down and not have to be here on Labor Day saying .."wait, wait, what happened to my summer?"  It's a blur and I  just want to sit for a bit and  hold to "the best of what might be." Summer after all is supposed to be the time of year that everything moves like a snail , nothing much is scheduled of a serious nature during the summer months- everyone is away, or going away, or just coming back from being away...and in summer it is not only perfectly acceptable, but also fashionable, to be lazy and just sit with a book.  Nights are slow in coming and have a special air with sounds that open windows welcome in-dogs barking, kids riding by on their bikes, night crickets, and of course baseball on the radio...

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 September in New England should not to be dismissed, the skies are glorious and the weather rides the change toward sweater weather.  This weekend, however, is a marker, closing the door on "true summer" the season that gives us permission to Go Play Outside.  With Labor Day we have to come in, toss the flip flops aside and put on "practical shoes" --we have to Go Back to School and back to our desks piled high with all the things we said we would get to "after Labor Day".  Just this week there  have been subtle signs of the season changing ... dry leaves turned on the trees, Mums filling the nurseries, Halloween cards on the racks and my favorite-the "plunking" of acorns as they fall and hit my neighbor's deck.  Mother Nature is serious about her calendar even if I am not.  I cling to summer well into November! when you will still see my flip flops by the back door.

Don't get me wrong, I adore  the fall- crisp air, glorious colors, tweeds,and crunchy knits, the scent of cinnamon and  apples, piles of pumpkins, the whole New England postcard.  Soon I will start digging out the tired blooms and replace them with  happy faced fall pansies and curly pink flowering kale.
  I might even run for the needles and cast on some cables!!

Labor Day, however, means we have to be grown ups again, not something I ever enjoy! OK, maybe September is not such a bad thing, but you sort of get used to wearing your summer brain.  The new season does means a new start-we all remember what the day after Labor Day always meant-new shoes, new outfit, a fresh box of crayons, a new teacher, a clean chalk board and a brand new year--much more fun than New Year's Day!

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 So I suppose there is no reason Fall can't welcome in a whole sparkling start-I sort of like the idea!---after this very grumpy summer how welcome hitting restart would be-if only!!  but if its OK with everyone I'll delay rowing the boat ashore just yet, and leave my flip flops by the back door for at least a few more weeks.

 “All in all, it was a never-to-be-forgotten summer — one of those summers which come seldom into any life, but leave a rich heritage of beautiful memories in their going — one of those summers which, in a fortunate combination of delightful weather, delightful friends and delightful doing, come as near to perfection as anything can come in this world.” ~Lucy Maud Montgomery

The Best of What Might Be-Summer Sails Away

“Summertime is always the best of what might be.” -Charles Bowden

I cannot quite get my head around this summer-I know, I know, I whine about this every Labor Day weekend, but here it is again-a summer sails away. It is going to feel like 100 degrees out there today but still I just flipped the calendar pages to September,yes I still do real calendars! Didn't  I just turn those same pages to June? Is it growing older that make Summertime fly? How often in the past few days have you heard "Can you believe it is Labor Day?" NO! I CANNOT!  Someone go find me June, July... A blink and suddenly the skies grow dark earlier,  scarecrows and even bags of trick or treat candy are everywhere,leaves start to drop...and suddenly September.

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Labor Day weekend of course always feels like an abrupt and an unwelcome end to summer.  For me this year it is particularly unsettling as summer 2018 was just so grumpy.  The weather was grumpy, the news was grumpy and even the gardens of Camp MP were grumpy-growing out of bounds like a jungle or in some spots showing no effort or joyful blooms at all as the critters ruled and burrowed and chomped away...and I was grumpy along with it.  I can count on two fingers when I got to just sit and do a summer day, lazy days with a book-in fact the pile of books that called in May remain unopened.  Can I get a Do-Over on summer 2018??? Mainly I want to slow it down and not have the golden days be a blur and just hold to "the best of what might be."

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"Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language." -Henry James

Summer after all is supposed to be the time of year that everything slows down, nothing much is scheduled of a serious nature during the summer months- everyone is away, or going away, or just coming back from being away...and in summer it is not only perfectly  acceptable, but also fashionable, to be lazy and just sit with a book.  Nights are slow in coming and have a special air with sounds that open windows welcome in-dogs barking, kids riding by on their bikes, night crickets, and of course baseball on the radio...

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 September in New England should not to be dismissed, the skies are glorious and the weather rides the change toward sweater weather.  This weekend, however, is a marker, closing the door on "true summer" the season that gives us permission to Go Play Outside.  With Labor Day we have to come in, toss the flip flops aside and put "practical shoes" on--we have to Go Back to School and back to our desks piled high with all the things we said we would get to "after Labor Day". Just this week there  have been subtle signs of the season changing ...a few dry leaves turned on the trees, Mums filling the nurseries, Halloween cards on the racks and my favorite-the "plunking" of acorns as they fall and hit my neighbor's deck.  Mother Nature is serious about her calendar even if I am not.  I cling to summer well into November!

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Don't get me wrong, I adore  the fall- crisp air, glorious colors, tweeds,and crunchy knits, the scent of cinnamon and  apples, piles of pumpkins, the whole New England bit.  Soon I will start digging out the tired blooms and replace them with  happy faced fall pansies and curly pink flowering kale.  I might even run for the needles and cast on some cables!!

via Frances Valentine

Labor Day, however, means we have to be grown ups again, not such a bad thing but you sort of get used to wearing your summer brain.  The new season also means a new start-every one of us remembers what the day after Labor Day always meant-new shoes, a fresh box of crayons, a new teacher and a brand new year--much more fun than New Year's Day!

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 No reason Fall can't welcome in a whole new start-I like the idea!---after this grumpy summer how welcome hitting restart would be-if only!!  but if its OK with everyone I'll delay rowing the boat ashore just yet, and leave my flip flops by the back door for at least a few more weeks.

 “All in all, it was a never-to-be-forgotten summer — one of those summers which come seldom into any life, but leave a rich heritage of beautiful memories in their going — one of those summers which, in a fortunate combination of delightful weather, delightful friends and delightful doing, come as near to perfection as anything can come in this world.” – Lucy Maud Montgomery

What Wilma Wore

"Fashions fade, style is eternal." Yves Saint Laurent

"A woman is never sexier than when she is comfortable in her clothes." Vera Wang

With August came the Triple H threat-Hazy, HOT, and oh my birds nest hair, Humid!  

Since I'm not at the beach and I have to go out there- despite every instinct telling me to stay inside with a book, I dress to fool myself into cool,wearing whatever will hang loosely, not stick to me, and float along with me all day.

As I zip by a mirror and catch a  drop of perspiration, I glance at who I have been dressing like day in and  day out as the thermostat rises...she never was one of my main fashion muses but perhaps she had a bigger impression on my fashion eye than I thought as I come to the surprising conclusion that- Everything I know about how to dress in summer I learned from... Wilma Flintstone! Highly unlikely Audrey and Wilma ever found themselves in the same couturier fitting room, but there it is in my mirror-Wilma style!

1.  Simple, not a lot of fussy fabric
2.  Light colors-No LBD in Wilma's summer closet I guess
3. Show some shoulder
4. Pile your hair high up on top of your head
3. Bare arms-do we think Wilma had a trainer?
4. Bare legs-cannot even imagine what waxing would be like in BC
5. Bare feet-natch no Jack Rogers in the Stone Age
6. Oh and of course a Simple Strand of ...Pearls

Thanks Wilma  Be cool!

Summer's Treasures

John Singer Sargent

  "Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language." -Henry James

Is it growing older, growing up, that make Summertime fly? How often in the past few days have you heard "Can you believe it is Labor Day?" NO! I CANNOT!  Someone go find me July and August please.  I blinked and the calendar said September.

via

Labor Day weekend has always been an abrupt and an unwelcome end to summer.  For me this year it is particularly unsettling as summer moved on once again without me. All I saw of summer days were my painted toes peeking out from my Jacks, rides with the top down coming and going from the office, and the smiling summer breeze through the screen doors.   No sandy feet, no drives along the coast, no long lazy days with a book-in fact the pile of books that called in May remain unopened.   No use whining over lost beach days but...can I get a Do-Over on summer 2017???  This summer has been unsettling, to say the least, for many of us in so many ways, and a catastrophic hurricane as an exclamation point brings us all to a stop-reminding us that the beautiful days should be treasured. It is as the cliches tell us -the small joys that matter.  So, I am holding to summer's treasures.

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Summer is the time of year that everything slows down, nothing much is scheduled of a serious nature during the summer months- everyone is away, or going away, or just coming back from being away...and in summer it is not only perfectly  acceptable, but also fashionable, to be lazy and just sit with a book.  Nights are slow in coming and have a special air with sounds that open windows welcome in-dogs barking, kids riding by on their bikes, night crickets, baseball on the radio...

 

Via Chance

Of course we will have lots of lovely days ahead-nothing nicer than September in New England. This weekend,however, is a marker, closing the door on "true summer" the season that gives us permission to Go Play Outside.  With Labor Day we have to come in, toss the flip flops aside and put "practical shoes" on--we have to Go Back to School and back to our desks piled high with all the things we said we would get to "after Labor Day". Just this week there  have been subtle signs of the season changing ...a few dry leaves turned on the trees, Mums filling the nurseries, Halloween cards on the racks and my favorite-the "plunking" of acorns as they fall and hit my neighbor's deck.  Mother Nature is serious about her calendar even if I am not.  I cling to summer well into November!

via

Don't get me wrong I adore the fall- crisp air, amazing colors, tweeds, crunchy knits, the scent of cinnamon and  apples, pumpkins, football the whole New England bit. I dream of casting on yummy cable knits on my needles and digging out the tired blooms replacing with smiling fall pansies and curly flowering kale. Labor Day,however, means we have to be grown ups again, not such a bad thing but you sort of get used to wearing your summer brain.  The new season also means a new start-every one of us remembers what the day after Labor day always meant-new shoes, a fresh box of crayons, a new teacher and a brand new year--much more fun than New Year's Day!

via

No reason Fall can't welcome in a whole new start-I like the idea!---after this exhausting summer how welcome hitting restart would be-if only!!  but if its OK with everyone I'll delay rowing the boat ashore just yet, and leave my flip flops by the back door for at least a few more weeks.

via

“Summertime is always the best of what might be.” -Charles Bowden

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 “All in all, it was a never-to-be-forgotten summer — one of those summers which come seldom into any life, but leave a rich heritage of beautiful memories in their going — one of those summers which, in a fortunate combination of delightful weather, delightful friends and delightful doing, come as near to perfection as anything can come in this world.” – Lucy Maud Montgomery

Summer's Blink

John Singer Sargent

  "Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language." -Henry James

Is it growing older, growing up, that make Summertime fly? How often in the past few days have you heard "Can you believe it is Labor Day?" NO! I CANNOT!  Someone go find me July and August please.  I blinked and the calendar said September.

via

Labor Day weekend has always been an abrupt and an unwelcome end to summer.  For me this year it is particularly unsettling as summer moved on once again without me. All I saw of summer days were my painted toes peeking out from my Jacks, rides with the top down coming and going from the office, and the rare breeze through the screen doors.  The hydrangeas were NOT happy this summer, and I had little time to spend with them to help them along through this hottest driest summer. No sandy feet, no drives along the coast, no long lazy days with a book-in fact the pile of books that called in May remain unopened.   No use whining over lost beach days but...can I get a Do-Over on summer 2016???  

via

Of course, hurricane season willing, we will have lots of lovely days ahead-nothing nicer than September in New England. This weekend,however, is a marker, closing the door on "true summer" the season that gives us permission to Go Play Outside.  With Labor Day we have to come in, toss the flip flops aside and put "practical shoes" on--we have to Go Back to School and back to our desks piled high with all the things we said we would get to "after Labor Day".

 

Via Chance

This summer has been too hot to move too far and water was nowhere to be seen from the skies.  We all groused as we fanned ourselves as if we were southern summer girls.  Just this week there  have been subtle signs of the season changing ...a few dry leaves turned on the trees, Mums filling the nurseries, Halloween cards on the racks and my favorite-the "plunking" of acorns as they fall and hit my neighbor's deck.  Mother Nature is serious about her calendar even if I am not.  I cling to summer well into November!

via

Summer is the time of year that everything slows down, nothing much is scheduled of a serious nature during the summer months- everyone is away, or going away, or just coming back from being away...and in summer it is not only perfectly  acceptable, but also fashionable, to be lazy and just sit with a book.  Nights are slow in coming and have a special air with sounds that open windows welcome in-dogs barking, kids riding by on their bikes, night crickets, baseball on the radio...

via

Don't get me wrong I adore the fall- crisp air, amazing colors, tweeds, crunchy knits, apples, pumpkins, football the whole bit...but Labor Day means we have to be grown ups again, not such a bad thing but you sort of get used to wearing your summer brain.  The new season also means a new start-every one of us remembers what the day after Labor day always meant-new shoes, a fresh box of crayons, a new teacher and a brand new year--much more fun than New Year's Day! No reason it still can't welcome in a new start-I like the idea!--- but if its OK with everyone I'll delay rowing the boat ashore just yet, and leave my flip flops by the back door for at least a few more weeks.

via

“Summertime is always the best of what might be.” -Charles Bowden

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 “All in all, it was a never-to-be-forgotten summer — one of those summers which come seldom into any life, but leave a rich heritage of beautiful memories in their going — one of those summers which, in a fortunate combination of delightful weather, delightful friends and delightful doing, come as near to perfection as anything can come in this world.” – Lucy Maud Montgomery

Summer Dreaming...

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“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”- F.Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

I am a Summer Girl but this year summer is sailing without me...so I paint my toes, slip into my Jacks and dream of sunshine,seashells and sand... 

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" Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time." -John Lubbock

Terry O'Neill Audrey Hepburn St. Tropez 1967 via

“Summertime is always the best of what might be.” -Charles Bowden 

 

una-lady-italiana:  by Benoit Courti 

 “Summer bachelors like summer breezes, are never as cool as they pretend to be.”
- Nora Ephron

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Ready for the Summer Shift

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 "And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer." ~F. Scott Fitzgerald

Down the street from Camp MoneyPit there remains a dark pile of leftover winter...seriously there is still a snowbank left behind from the snowfarm that once was and we thought always would be...but at long last we begin the wonderful process of  thinking summer! Snow shovels, ice dams, rock salt, Sorels and scarves no more... this is the weekend we start to dial it all back. Memorial Day is a mind marker, doesn't matter what the weather is- this is when we shift down a bit and put our heads toward flip flops, front porches, ceiling fans, the sound of baseball... the top comes down on the car and the spiders get cleared out of the grills. This is the weekend when the closets get turned over, the heavy sweaters, coats and mittens go in back, the espadrilles and Jacks come out of their boxes and the toes get painted a happy coral pink.  The garden awaits...it loved the snow!  Every branch is waking and bursting .  The courtyard furniture will shed its leaf coated dust covers and at long last come out of hibernation.  

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 "Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit.  A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world." ~Ada Louise Huxtable

 The real first day of summer is almost a month away on June 21 but that doesn't stop us from starting to flip that switch and shift into a different gear. 
 Now it isn't as if the deadlines stop or that work doesn't have to happen, but we all tend to take it all in easier stride from here til the end of August. 

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Somehow no matter how old we are when the last days of school arrive, doesn't matter if we don't even know anyone in school, we all come out to play. 
Long stretches of daylight without watches or calendars, books that can finally get read, toes that will sink into the sand, and nights that 
don't start til after bedtime help our summer spirit thrive. 

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“Summertime is always the best of what might be.” -Charles Bowden

 When it comes to summer we all become kids again, and no matter what the desk holds we still look out the window, watch the sprinklers, kick off the shoes and know that whatever the work pile may be it will all be there tomorrow-just save it for a rainy day because summer is a state of mind and that state is now open for the season.

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" Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time." -John Lubbock

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What Happened to July? Time to Row the Boat Ashore...

 

Via Chance

  "Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language." -Henry James


How often in the past few days have you heard "Can you believe it is Labor Day?" NO! I CANNOT!  Someone go find me July please.

via

Labor Day weekend has always been an abrupt and an unwelcome end to summer.  Of course we will have lots of lovely days ahead-nothing nicer than September in New England, and the beaches are wonderfully empty...but this weekend closes the door on "true summer" the season that gives us permission to Go Play Outside.  With Labor Day we have to come in, toss the flip flop aside and put "practical shoes" on--we have to Go Back to School and back to our desks piled high with all the things we said we would get to "after Labor Day".

There are have been subtle signs of the season changing all week as there always is the last week of August...a few leaves turned on the trees, Mums filling the nurseries, Halloween cards on the racks and my favorite-the "plunking" of acorns as they fall and hit my neighbors deck.  Mother Nature is serious about her calendar even if I am not.  I cling to summer well into November :)

Summer is the time of year that everything slows down, nothing much is scheduled of a serious nature during the summer months- everyone is away, or going away, or just coming back from being away...and in summer it is not only perfect acceptable, but also fashionable, to be lazy and just sit with a book.  Nights are slow in coming and have a special air with sounds that open windows welcome in-dogs barking, kids riding by on their bikes, baseball on the radio(another team not mine this summer)...

via

 Don't get me wrong I adore the fall- crisp air, amazing colors, tweeds, crunchy knits, apples, pumpkins, football the whole bit...but Labor Day means we have to be grown ups again, not such a bad thing but you sort of get used to wearing your summer brain.  The new season also means a new start-everyone one of us remembers what the day after Labor day always meant-new shoes, a fresh box of crayons, a new teacher and a brand new year--much more fun than New Year's Day! No reason it still can't welcome in a new start-I like the idea!--- but if its OK with everyone I'll still leave my flip flops by the back door for at least a few more weeks.

 via

“Summertime is always the best of what might be.” -Charles Bowden

 “All in all, it was a never-to-be-forgotten summer — one of those summers which come seldom into any life, but leave a rich heritage of beautiful memories in their going — one of those summers which, in a fortunate combination of delightful weather, delightful friends and delightful doing, come as near to perfection as anything can come in this world.” – Lucy Maud Montgomery

Just A Summer Girl!

“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”- F.Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

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" Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time." -John Lubbock

Terry O'Neill Audrey Hepburn St. Tropez 1967 via

“Summertime is always the best of what might be.” -Charles Bowden 

 

una-lady-italiana:  by Benoit Courti 

 “Summer bachelors like summer breezes, are never as cool as they pretend to be.”
- Nora Ephron

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