August

August is drawing to a close and children are returning to their lessons and after school activities. It feels odd to not be doing back-to-school shopping or ordering books for another year of education. This is the first fall where I am not preparing to continue my education since my first fall of going to kindergarten. Now that my bachelor’s degree is complete I don’t have to do the grind—at least until I being my master’s program in a few years. But, after spending so many Augusts going back to school it seems odd to not be doing it. It’s fall but it doesn’t quite feel like fall. There are certain things that make a season feel like a season, outside of the weather and landscape, and there is something lacking from my autumn. It’s like going through December with no Christmas lights or July with no fireworks. There’s just that odd little empty place left behind. I know it won’t be so odd next year, and even less so the year after that, as I will adjust to the lack of back-to-school-ing in the autumn.

To get more into the spirit of autumn, here are some photographs of orange sunflowers I purchased yesterday morning. As I went into the grocery store for my weekly gallon of milk and other such necessities I passed by these flowers with their beautiful faces in the color of the on-coming season and decided to take them home with me. Now I have a vase of four on my diningroom table and a single bloom in a wine bottle (of course) on my desk and seeing them yesterday and today have added a bit more autumn to the end of my August.

Enjoy!