Ramblings

I’m feeling a bit out of sorts tonight. All our sons have made it up to the lake this summer and I am eternally grateful for the wonderful, quality time we had with each one. One of our daughters-in-law made it, and our two grandsons. All in all, a perfect summer.

But now I am sad that fall is kind of here, and people are leaving to go home for the winter, and the summer fun is behind us. We didn’t have much of a summer really. Al Gore should have experienced this cold, wet summer! He might have begun to doubt the idea of Global Warming in a place where the heat had to be turned on 12 months in a row now moving into the 13^th month! Oh my. It has been so cold here! I am sitting here writing this in my fall weather fleece jacket.

Nonetheless, we have now had 4 days of sun in a row, a record for this summer of rain, rain and more rain. The flowers and plants are green, but scrawny, some even drowned. Most plants in our yard are smaller than usual, some didn’t even bloom well. And the strangest thing: I haven’t seen one butterfly! Some birds have already left to go wherever they go. The geese are beginning to practice their V shaped formations, the hummingbirds are feeding like crazy as they do just before heading South, the light is fading from the skies earlier and earlier. All in all, I am not wanting to let go of summer this year, partially because we feel it hasn’t really yet arrived!

When you live in a seasonal tourist area, you really notice when people leave to go home for the school year. You can almost feel the air go out of the area as if you got a flat tire. One day there are people all over the place, the next you are looking around for another boat, car or jet ski in sight! Don’t get me wrong…we love both the crowds of summer and the peace of winter. They are so contrasting that it makes life very interesting and varied. There are more and more people staying up here all winter but this former winter loving woman is now becoming one of those old fogies who is looking forward to spending part of the winter away somewhere warm!

I realize I truly am rambling, but that’s what I do when I am in this “between seasons” mood. As much as I love the fall, it is short here, and the cold winds blow all too early. There are little treasures that winter brings like seeing the deer come down to the lake to drink, or the snowy owl sitting outside my kitchen window in the tree, or the bald eagle soaring high overhead looking for his dinner.

And then spring will come again. Living so close to nature again after years of city and suburban living I count the seasons by seeing what is blooming throughout spring, summer and fall, and how the light shifts throughout the winter into those long, endless summer days. Living this far north our night lasts about 6 hours at the height of summer, 15 in the dead of winter. I realize how truly fortunate we are to be able to experience these varied moods of nature. Still, I wish summer would last a little bit longer, and that time with our family could be extended another few weeks. I feel a little guilty for wanting more, but I guess that is just my human side pouting. There is no holding back nature even in the best of times. So I guess I’ll just have to settle into this fleece which will give way to a down parka sooner than later now. Hopefully my reluctance to move on will give way to an embrace of what comes next and I will get immersed in the best of what each season brings.