Dog days of summer and her just homage

Summer is galloping by.  Jennie Wren has exited her home here for southern climes and cicada are whirring with the anticipatory sounds of fall.  Some children are already back in school and many look at a mere week or two before they are back at their desks again. 

I love the sights and smells of fall, but I also always lament the loss of summer.  I am not a hot weather lover, but I do love the longer days and the warm evenings of summer.   I also love the lush gardens and the songs of all of the birds that make the days so sweet.  To see what was once the barren landscape of winter lit with a kaleidoscope of colors is sheer magnificence.  And to be able to go barefoot in the grass or pluck a lush ripe red tomato from the garden and enjoy the unmatched flavor of summer's fresh bounty free from pesticides in indescribable.  Ah for those blissful flavors of summer next winter.   

I have been busy enjoying the fruits of the season while they are here.  We have enjoyed apricot galette, cherry clafouti, plum cake, peach bread, peach pie, and every fresh vegetable imaginable.  Fresh tomato soup is heaven indeed!!   How I wish gardens could be with us year around!  But would we appreciate that splendid bounty nearly as much if it were so?  All we can do is gather the spoils while they are here and preserve them in mason jars for those long dark winter days when we will sit by the fire with the new seed catalogs dreaming of another sweet summer.