summer's end

It feels suddenly like summer is finishing up. The tomatoes and raspberries are heavy with fruit, the sunflowers on my table remind me of Vincent and the air in my kitchen smells of ripe fruit in bowls on the kitchen table. The heat and haze of August is slowly giving way to the cool breezes of Autumn... it is hurricane season, when we begin to lay things down in the freezer and hope with fingers crossed that a hurricane doesn't come and take our power for days on end so that we have to eat up all that defrosting abundance in the basement. My girls are in their element in the garden... muddy fingers and toes, raspberry stains, and wild hair combine to herald their exuberance in the harvest of the fruits of late summer. The eat more than they bring indoors and I don't mind... I laugh at the smears of raspberry juice on faces and dresses. They are me 20 years ago, and it makes me so happy to relive my childhood through them.