A Perfect Summer Day
I found a quote once that I love:
“A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken.” ― James Denton
Well, that is what I wish you today, a perfect summer day. Enjoy it while you can because fall cometh. I can always feel it in the air, I start to sense it long before it appears. And if I did not imagine the smell or see the sights of fall, I would know still that it is coming. Why? Well, that takes me to another quote from the movie, You’ve Got Mail. The character played by Tom Hanks writes in his e-mail to Meg Ryan’s character (with whom he is having an anonymous online correspondence):
“Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.”
(quote of Nora Ephron, screenwriter of the movie)
That’s how I know it is fall . . . I am overcome with the urge to buy school supplies. And friends, I hate to be the harbinger, sending out a death knell to summer, but I have had that feeling the last few days. Since I started first grade I have never known a fall that was not accompanied by my urge to buy said school supplies.
Fortunately, I had a child and could indulge that urge years more until she got older. College brings a whole new list of what is required and alas, it does not necessarily include the yellow pencils, glue sticks, rulers and colored construction paper that I yearn for so much. I guess I am a gal stuck with a grammar school mentality.
But the buying of school supplies always announced the glorious falls I knew. Fall blew in quietly with its school carnivals, hayrides, crisp apples, falling leaves and candy corn. Oh, and the county fair, that had to be one of my tip top events. I remember one year when we attended the fair. I was all decked out in my new outfit, a checked flannel shirt with new blue jeans, lined no less with the same red checked flannel. I thought I was the queen of the midway.
This was a true county fair with agricultural exhibits, pigs, cows, the whole megillah, the whole ball of wax. It was a treat for a city gal, and so I wandered from point to point, eating everything from French fries with malt vinegar to candied apples. The fact that the smells of the food purveyors was mixed with the wafting farm smells did not deter me a bit. It was after all a part of fall . . . just as the Tilt-a-Whirl was that spun me until I was dizzy with the thrills of the season.
So, beware fall is on its way. I home school my granddaughter and so I have yet another good reason to buy supplies. I have new pencils in my grasp and glue sticks galore, so I know fall can not be far away. Enjoy August while you can, squeeze every golden drop out of that huge orange sun. Go to the lake, swim for all you're worth, have that cookout, but party quickly. For the maven of seasons has spoken—fall is gaining on you!
