Squeezing out the last drops of... September 10, 2009

Summer. Brownsville good times.

I read my horoscope yesterday by Rob Brezsny (I love reading his horoscopes, I look forward to them every Wednesday.) Here's what he said about Geminis this week:

'"Here's what I did not do this summer," begins the testimony of one of my Gemini readers, Beth Hylton. "Not once did I swing on a tire swing over the river, watching the pink shimmery reflection of myself in a wet suit on a tire swing. I did not take a day off work to sneak out alone to Jones Beach with a book and a beer in a ginger ale bottle. I did not eat outside at a red-checkered-tablecloth-and-too-much-cheese-on-the-pasta Italian restaurant, sucking back carafes of Gallo like Kool-Aid. I did not catch fireflies for the satisfaction of setting them free, and I did not nap in the noontime sun. Where are all the 'I dids'?" I'm happy to inform Beth, as well as any of her fellow Geminis who might have been remiss in doing the kinds of activities she named, that the next three weeks will be a very favorable period to make up for lost time.'

Well, when I read this I thought WOW, I think I've actually come close to really doing all of this stuff this summer! There have been so many years when I've come to the end of August, only to lament about all of the summer to-dos that never happened.

This summer, has been entirely different. I feel like I really dug in this year, and swam, camped, floated, ate, napped, climbed, and sunned myself to complete satisfaction.

I can feel fall creeping in, and I am getting this calm and happy feeling in the pit of my stomach, that I always get when the weather turns cooler.

Just last weekend, I feel like I squeezed the last drop out of summer, and welcomed fall in one fell swoop.

I spent a few days on my parents property in Brownsville, Oregon with my family. We swam in the chilly river, put puzzles together, read books in the rain, sat on the porch and watched baby deer eat berries, built fairy houses in the fields (and left them bits of chocolate, of course), and feasted on the many amazing dishes that my sisters made throughout out the weekend. Pastas, watermelon and avocado salads, grilled chickens, and pie. Oh yes, pie and more pie. Blackberry pie and blackberry crumbles. Yum.

Now I'm back to work. Dreaming about more pie. And sketching out new stories. And feeling the winds of fall coming in and all of the changes that come with it. Happy and hopeful for endings and new beginnings..