I'm melting!

August 1, 2019

Thursday

Texas

So! It is August in Texas which means temperatures in the triple digits most days. Rain is the silent wish of every gardener. A cloud no matter how small is a joyful occurrence in the sky. The wise get up and get crackin' early-early-early. Otherwise, for most (man and beast, fowl and plant) survival mode kicks in.

Trips for most people are a dash to the air-conditioned car to air-conditioned work to air-conditioned stores and back to air-conditioned house. Weekends are a dash to and from the house of friends and family as long as they have air-conditioning and ice tea or cold beer. We take ice and the temperature of beer very seriously in hotter-than-hell country. Criteria for choosing a restaurant is they must have ice cream. About this time people start believing what I always say - grass (meaning a well-kept lawn) is overrated. Water people stay in the water. Non-water people stay in the shower.

And Autumn people? Autumn people start dreaming about the first day of Fall, leaves skittering down the street ahead of a blue norther, no - not the ones that fall because the trees are in distress. We get pumpkin on the brain. We wander the aisles of stores that are already stocked for Hallowe'en. We think how we will dress the porch and the house for our favorite season. We read books set in Autumn or stories that remind us of Autumn. We watch spooky movies. We celebrate the arrival of mums in the garden centers.

And, we survive.

I will never say Hurry Autumn because the days between now and then are too precious to waste without living them well. But the welcome mat for Autumn goes out in August (sometimes July) and the preparations (even if they are only mental) begin.

Octoberwych