A Season Ends

 

The Sun Sets in Iowa, on the day, on the season.  Photo by J. Berta

Greetings All:

Summer's done.  That can be a cause for sadness, or at least an emotional pause.  Then there's the reality of our geography.  Here in the Midwest fall is followed, often quickly, by winter.  Sooner, much sooner than later, what is a gentle breeze today will be a bitter gale.  Simply put, it will not be fun.

Yet those days are still a ways off.  There will still be days where we can still wear shorts.  Sure, you might need a sweatshirt, but the point is, you can still wear shorts.  In other words, don't put your shorts away just yet.

Then there are the great things about this time of year.  Football is in full swing and as write this, my beloved Iowa Hawkeyes are 5-0.  Whether or not this lasts, for the moment, they are undefeated.  Perhaps the summer season is over but my team's football season is in full swing!

Getting back to the main subject, the end of the summer season.  This is a bit of a challenge to write as it sure seemed like summer today.  I was out driving around today and yesterday in the Camaro with the top down.  (The Camaro is far from in its prime, yet it's running and the stereo still blasts Van Halen, so hey, it's fine for now.)

Yet I know I'm living on borrowed time.  All of us are.  The leaves are changing.  Already my lawn has leaves scattered in it.  Not enough to rake, not yet.  But soon.  In the mornings, I'm greeted by a chill.  Again, not enough to be discomforting, yet enough to remind me to go find my gloves.  I'll need them soon enough.

As I was driving today, the sun was shining brightly, majestically even.  Off to my left was a field of corn.  The stalks were golden (a Hawkeye gold, I'll dare to say) and were standing tall.  In weeks, or perhaps even days, they will fall to the harvest.  Yet by falling to the combine we're able to have a full belly.  Something to ponder.

I've been taking photos recently of the nature around me.  I've noticed new flowers that were not around during the heat of summer.  Here are a few examples.

 

Photo of flowers my daughter picked, photo by J. Berta

Some wild flowers we planted earlier this summer that recently joined us.  Photo by J. Berta.

So here we are, confronting the change of seasons.  Yet I have to wonder if confront is the right word.  Perhaps another approach is to view the end of summer as not as surrender but instead stoic acceptance.  It is a change and I suppose a loss.  A loss of warmth and long days of light.  Then again, there are things that are to the fall we only experience now.  I'd suggest this perspective:

"Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight."  Marcus Aurelius.  

Let us all endeavor to share in that delight,...whatever season of the year it may be.
 
Be well my friends,
Jeno