During the most intensely hot week of August of every year, I end up having the kids go through all of their fall and winter clothes to see what still fits. It never fails. It will be 95 degrees and muggy, and I will have them trying on their turtlenecks.

The intense heat always makes me realize that fall is just around the corner. I know it will be sweltering for one or two weeks, almost unbearable, then the weather will break. The cool nights will come back, and in the morning the grass will stay wet with a heavy dew for hours. The glory of lightening bugs fades away, and a chorus of crickets takes center stage instead. In the garden, berries finish their season as the tomatoes and summer squash are ripening in waves, and the fall crop of spinach is starting to sprout.

So last week the children slept naked in the heat, and I pulled hoodie sweaters off of sweaty torsos as they tried on all their winter clothes. This week, the pajamas and nightgowns are again being worn at night, and a new shipment of pants and long sleeved shirts is on its way from Old Navy. Pretty soon we will be hearing the rustle of drying leaves singing as fall starts.

I do love the change in seasons.

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
~ Albert Camus