Summer's End

It's Aug 31. Where did the summer go? I know that we all ask that question every single summer, but this year has been especially odd. June was a slow, excruciating month of nausea and exhaustion and therefore, I remember very little of it. July was more of the same, though with birthdays and lots of busy-ness thrown in. August was a blur, with friends staying with us for 5 days (2 extra adults and 2 extra kids in our house=controlled chaos), followed quickly by preparation to go to the cabin for 9 days. After the cabin, it was quick returns to work and trying to settle back into normal life. And there it was. The summer.

While most of me doesn't comprehend that summer is over, there is the sure sign in me that summer is almost over: I have started to despise the gardens. It's something that happens every August, whether my gardens look great or utterly neglected. The sad part is, my few veggie plants usually don't produce until August and by then, I am so sick of tending to them that I can barely muster excitement to care for the ripening peppers or fend off the damn squirrels from my tomatoes that have started to turn red. I will say, though, that picking a Brandywine tomato and eating it for dinner right away or grabbing herbs for cooking just by stepping outside my door is pretty great and renews my enjoyment of gardening.