Late Summer

There is something so lovely about the end of summertime. The days are shorter, the angle of the sun has changed, there is less intensity to the heat. The vegetable garden has peaked for the season - tomato plants start to brown, with fruit still on the vine ripening. The zucchini slows down is massive production effort, after having taken over so much space in the garden. Basil flowers form, hinting that soon enough, it will be cool, and fresh basil in our meals with be but a dream until next summer.

Daily harvests are plentiful, all the hard work having been done. It is a time for rest, a time to sit back and draw breath, and be grateful for the bounty we have enjoyed over the warm months. Knowing the cooler weather of autumn will soon be here, and the garden work will start again, removing the wonderful providers from the summer just gone. A new cycle starting, renewal, a change, a clean slate to start once more. Beds to be dug over, compost to be spread about, a new focus for a different season.

This has been a tiring summer. It feels like only yesterday I stood in my kitchen, cup of tea in hand, on the first day of January. When the weather was cool, and we wondered when it would get hot. In mid January it got hot. Very hot. And it was so intense at the time, but feels strangely so far away now. The ground is dry, with another summer of well below average rainfall. But we have survived, we have thrived, and now we turn to face the autumn, and hope for rain to fall soon. It will.

Thinking back to early summer, and the prospect of long sunny days and delightfully warm weather. Forgetting how harsh the summer in central Victoria can be. Hiding indoors from the intensity of the days. Hibernating from the heat. Already the nights are cooler, and extra warmth is needed. The whirr of the fan in the bedroom on hot nights is but a memory, and we can put it away again until next year. The air softens, and mellows, and we watch as the transition happens around and within us.

I love the changing of the season.