It’s August

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Something happens to me in August. At a certain point a switch flips and I’m in fall mode. Not real fall but practice fall. It happens mid to late August.

I look longingly at my hoodies with the soft fleece lining and wonder when I can stop putting the orange stripey stuff on my legs. I let my toenail polish wear off. Clear signs of seasonal change.

It’s not completely weather-based either. At this point back in the day, my mom would take me shopping for back to school clothes. It’s that change in wardrobe feeling, knowing there would be fresh new stuff to wear. Brand new shiny penny loafers. A new school bag. Back then school bags were black or brown and heavy, very heavy. Put a couple of books in them and you were carrying half your weight. They weren’t back healthy either. Sadly there will be no new clothes for me this year.

I’m still picking tomatoes but they know too. They are dwindling and what I pick rots faster. Rain splits the skin so the bugs can feast. They are losing their enthusiasm and I’m losing my interest.

It’s a good time of year. Brisk walking in the morning and warm in the evening. The critters are bulking up for winter. Chipmunks are preparing for hibernation. Squirrels are hiding stuff hoping they remember where they put it. Just like me.

I can still get a S’mores frappucino at Starbucks. I know it’s all over when the pumpkin latte makes it’s debut.

This year we missed the locusts. Usually mid to late July, they sing in the trees. They continue to sing for about a month when the crickets take over the songfest. This year no locusts. Did they hear about the virus? Have the pesticides wiped them out. I miss them. Another routine disruption this year. Will it ever end?

Are you feeling the change?

 

88 thoughts on “It’s August”

  5. I have felt that Fall feelin’ all week Kate. We’ve had a just gorgeous week here in SE Michigan, lows 60s in the morning, no humidity and maybe 70 for a high, but the party ends tomorrow – ugh. I thought of you this morning when I heard on the national news that Starbucks starts their pumpkin spice latte on Tuesday the 25th and Dunkin starts their Fall specialty drinks the following day … soon you’ll go to the grocery store and it’s all harvest and pumpkin. For me, I went to the grocery store this morning – outside Meijer were the racks of Fall mums. Mums signal end of Summer.

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  6. Hi Kate, Once I see it, I cannot remove it from my mind “practice fall.” I have adopted a new saying, and it fits. We had the overnight change from yesterday (too hot) to today, slightly more brisk and comfortable. Yes, I am feeling the change.🙂

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  8. I noticed this morning, it wasn’t as light n the kitchen when I got up – we have great windows – but the sun’s angle is slowly changing.
    I know what you mean about not just the weather, for years the school wardrobe search meant summer was on the way out.
    I’m so ready for that first slight wisp of fall breeze. Yes snuggly polar fleece.
    Not until after Halloween probably. All your crickets and cicada serenaders are here. Just lovely during the last afternoon dog walks.

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  11. Really not feeling any weather changes here yet – still humid, hot and plenty of WET. But other than weather-wise I am feeling lots of changes. Life is just plain DIFFERENT now…..and while I’m OK with some of the “different”, I’m NOT OK with other stuff like where the heck does the time go? Why does it seem like things are FLYING by all of a sudden. I’m more conscious of my age, my aches and pains, my attitudes about things. I guess i just have more time to think these days. Anyway, I am looking forward to Fall as it – and Spring – are my two favorite seasons. Can’t wait for fires in the fireplace and changing leaves. That’s MY kind of change!

    Hugs, Pam

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  12. Hi, Kate – As much as I enjoy fall once it finally settles in…I get there kicking and screaming. Right now I am in complete plea-bargaining mode for just a little bit more of summer. With our lousy June and July weather and the whole COVID thing, I believe that a (long) summer extension is definitely in order!

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  13. It’s heating up here, but, thankfully, only to the low-mid 80s. Other parts of California are much hotter. And the fires have started (again, not here, thank goodness), yikes!

    I remember getting new school clothes. It was always bitter sweet. I loved new clothes but my mother and I usually ended up fighting about what was – and wasn’t – appropriate. She was right, of course, but I was sure the world would end back then.

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  18. When I think about back-to-school supplies, I always think of the new pencil boxes we’d get each year. By spring it would be falling apart, of course. We’re hearing less of the owls here right now, which is strange because in August they’re usually out in droves. One does wonder what’s happening with the ecosystem.

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  19. Hi Kate! Late August still takes me back to when my Aunt Margie, she was a character, and my Mom took me shopping for my loafers. I had to wear a uniform for 12 years and shoes were the only way you could express yourself! We won’t be having any feelings of cool here till late November but I think I have grown used to that. We will just take a swim in the pool on Thanksgiving! I totally feel your happiness as you write about Fall starting to settle in. I do kinda miss it.

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  20. It’s getting darker earlier in the evenings that’s for sure, and the tomato plants are definitely trying to finish up their season. Fall is not my favorite season except for getting outside projects done. I hate raking leaves, and in a state that is 80+% covered in trees, we deal with a lot of them.

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  21. I too feel, and yes, fancy a brisk segue into Fall. When one’s vista remains ever constant the slightest variance of light can prompt a clue writ large. And Autumn’s long shadows often bring a cool mystery.

    Obviously, I’ve been chillin’ way too long.

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  22. I was just telling my husband that I’m ready for fall. It’s been a pretty hot summer here, and although we’ve gotten some rain, we’re a bit dry. Aside from hurricanes, it’s reminding me a bit too much Florida, where the heat never ended.

    I can relate to everything you said about getting ready for school, the cracked tomatoes, and the chipmunks. All the same here, too.

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  23. Excellent dog walking weather this week. Love those morning walks right now, and I’m catching up to you again for the time being!! Next week looks like the 90’s again, so gotta make the most of now.

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  25. We’re into the first days where the sun sets before 8 PM. The overnights are also beginning to cool down the past few days. I thought once recently about sweatpants and then remembered that I was grumbling about them when we got into May and it was still rather cool. I can also tell that the pollen is changing as I become a little more constantly “snotty” (my nose, not my mood!).

    Having said all that, I can only hope that the continued passage of time brings us some relief from the pandemic and political turmoil, and, in that light, I’m really ready for that time to keep passing!

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  26. I sense the change when it comes the cycles of the Sun. It doesn’t make its debut as early as it did in the Summer Solstice. It is slowly dying til the Winter Solstice where it will be reborn again.

    Honestly, Autumn is my favorite time of year and I yearn for it this year with these heat waves. Chuck, our fluffy Pomeranian, does as well.

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  27. I dream of fall and putting out my maple leaf wind chimes. And I’ll put them out on the equinox, but it’ll probably still be very, very hot. Right now it’s so humid I feel like I’m back in D.C. or Virginia.

    But at least I’m finally getting my money’s worth with out new central air conditioning!

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  30. totally feeling it .. no Pumpkin Spice around yet but it’s close — mornings are cool and days are bright and warm. But last night, about 7pm on the patio, it felt … shivery … We’ll get another round of hot/sticky stuff or maybe 2 … but then September, glorious September. The only thing missing will be COLLEGE FOOTBALL! Wah!

    ~MJ

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    • My husband was missing baseball (late start for the season) and he still misses it the way it should be played. Football is very dicey. We’ll see what they decide to do. Very weird year. Glad someone else is feeling it. I love summer but I love this too.

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    • Normally we would start seeing pumpkin this or that by this time. Not this year. Perhaps that’s good. The winter will be rough as people can socialize outside a little. When it’s cold, I’ll be hibernating with the chipmunks!

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  33. I don’t like August. I am highly allergic to the pollen in the air, so for me this is when I get my crankiest. HOWEVER the changes you talk about in your August are the ones I experience in my September, a month I like. I especially like brisk walks and wearing fleece. But not quite yet for me.

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    • I don’t have “real” allergies so I’m oblivious to the allergy seasons. I get snotty when I’m working in the dirt too long but not usually just being out and about. This feeling I have will stay through September until it gets cold enough to need an extra hoodie or coat.

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