this is one of those "time moves forward" things

[vaznetti]

Summer appears to be over: the weekend is supposed to be warm, but August has been below par. I wore sandals today, but it was a bad decision. The blackberries are nearly gone (although to be fair they started early) and I have no idea how many of our tomatoes will ripen. No matter what, I will be making a lot of green tomato chutney. (I have also made the first apple cake of the season, another sign of fall.)

But hey, as I typed these words, the sun broke through the clouds! Huzzah! (I know, I know, there's nothing actually wrong with the weather here -- it doesn't try to kill us on a regular basis, for one thing -- but I've been wearing a jacket for the last month at least.)

And I am casting my eyes forward to the next academic term, and wondering where all this teaching came from, and when I'm supposed to do it all. Urgh. It isn't going to be pretty. And why have I done so little writing over the summer?

Meanwhile, Spartacus has decided that he wants to start wearing underpants rather than diapers, at least some of the time. Sadly this does not mean that he wants to tell us when he needs to use the potty -- and in fact, his response to the question "do you nee the potty" always a really loud "NO!!!" This is usually followed within fifteen minutes by an accident, if we don't disregard his opinions and put him on it anyway.

We had someone come in and build bookshelves for us this week. They are kind of ugly, but at least we can get all some of our books out of the garage. We've also had our fence repaired and finally made Spartacus' room nice (new bed! new paint! new curtains! WWI airplane mobile!) Next: finding someone to rip up the carpet in the living room and sand the floorboards!

Comments

[bardsmaid.livejournal.com]

We've had a weird, cool summer here, too. I've just started to get a lot of tomatoes ripening, and my first cucumbers are heading toward a pickable size. Though it seems really strange to have all this happening in September. Our old apple tree in the back of the yard, which usually has very wormy fruit, appears to be on its way to giving us a big crop of usable apples this time, so I'll have to make a few pies myself. I'm just hoping that the hotter weather, which did finally arrive a few weeks ago, will continue long enough for my winter squash and melons to fully ripen. Last year we had fall rains start really early, in the first week of September, so hopefully this is our turn for a long Indian summer. Besides, we still need to soak up more sunshine before we return to the pervasive Oregon gloom.