Summer has ended. We thought it was forever, just the way it is, we took it for granted. And then the air changed. An opening in the atmosphere, a clearing out of the old breath, the hot eternal breath of August, a clearing of the lake, a brighter sharper quality to the sunshine, a sharpness that signaled the coming of cold.

In September, with trees still green, the fields faded into hay, lightly waving in the sunshine. October brings a piquancy, wet and cool, trees bending and leaves rustling in the brightness, the lake water quiet, the smells that bring you present into this earth and yourself, freshness in the turning, a time to savor.