On my desk I light a sweetly scented candle. Peach and cinnamon and sugar waft up from the flames.
The window is open and a hot heavy breeze blows in.
Everything is green and overgrown. The sun is now a deep honey color rather than bright and vibrant like a lemon drop.
This is the end of summer. The caterpillars have grown into butterflies, baby chicks have left their nest, the color of the flowers are beginning to fade.
Despite the air being still too hot, there are traces of fall. The edges of the leaves on trees have turned yellow and the nights are a little bit cooler.
The late summer rainstorms call for lit candles and a warm cup of something, cozy inside, instead of rocking on the porch.
This summer felt fast and slow at the same time.
I attended three family reunions and hosted family for a week in July. Because of this I wasn't able to work in the garden as often as I had hoped. Between client work, life, and the steady stream of visitors, I was plenty booked. In fact there are still many things I did not get to do. On the flip side I got to do a lot more than I had originally planned.
To begin, my zinnia garden really started to show promise in June. Before we left for the first family reunion I picked my first bouquet!
This really was a monumental moment for me. Two summers ago I decided that someday I wanted to open my own U-Pick flower farm and pumpkin patch. Despite gardening being so prominent in my life, I had never grown flowers. I wasn't even sure I could! I actually thought they would all die.
I spent many months learning all about flowers and how to grow them from seed, when to cut, how to cut, etc., etc., etc., In March when it finally came time to plant the seeds I was gleaming. I was actually making my dream come true!
But around the end of April my dreams were crushed a little when more than half of my seedlings randomly died. I decided to order one more packet of seeds and have a go at it anyway. And boy did it pay off! By August I had more zinnia's than I knew what to do with. In fact everyone loved them so much that next year we are only planting flowers in the garden.
This summer I allowed myself to paint. My art has always been done on my iPad from the beginning. This started because I was a college student with very little money to spend on paint and paper. My parents actually gifted me my iPad for Christmas one year having complete faith that I could turn my art into a career.
There is still a part of me that doesn't want to waste paint or paper. But I am allowing myself to be messy and colorful and let the imperfections be part of the art.
I even snuck in a little bit of fall painting.
Many of our evenings this summer looked like this. Sitting in a circle talking and playing games. The days were long and the nights short. There was even a chance to see a Blue Moon at the beginning of August, even though it was ironically vibrantly red.
There was magic to be found around every corner this summer, as there is every summer, and every season. It's funny because I am so bad at words. But I can capture the magic with a camera and my paintbrush.
Here is my ode to summer. Thank you for your hug of warm sun, fruit and flowers, full moons setting in the pink sky, adventure, bringing people together, cleaning with the windows open, and as always, memories made.
Goodbye, Summer.
Hello, Autumn :)
