here we are, September

Wow, August. You were a blur. A washout. A near total loss. I had high hopes for you! I had nearly a four-week break from classes and I had plans: a week with my kid and his partner, making peach and apple pies, a day-trip or two, long beach walks. Nope. I got Covid, or, more aptly, it got me. My first ever bout. Three and a half days off work (I should have taken more, but I’m stubborn), two nearly full weeks in bed (working), and five weeks later I still sound like I’m not quite right.

I’m just now getting back up to full throttle. Work is busy. My two classes are demanding. But the fog has cleared and I feel equipped to manage it all (mostly). But I completely missed the peaches, and I’m sad about it, because there’s not much better than a local peach that you’ve closed up in a paper bag to ripen, somehow protected it from the plethora of fruitflies that are the hallmark of a Michigan late summer, and then stood over the kitchen sink to eat while the drips run off your elbows.

Oh well. Next year, peaches. At least now there are apples! And hard squash! Oh, younger would me would be so shocked at my excitement over seasonal produce. There is a farm stand nearby that has the best honey crisp apples. I think I love honey crisp best… I buy them every year, but there are always new varieties to try. Whatever this apple seller has this year, I’ll branch out and try some other variety. Why not?

So, before the bout with Covid, I did get to spend a few days with my kid before I got sick (thankfully no one else caught it) just after that particularly spectacular lightning storm I wrote about in my last post. Those two days had their own magic. We laid under blankets on the deck watching the Perseid meteor shower at its peak, and the next day we anxiously checked, rechecked, then checked again so that we wouldn’t miss the monarch hatch from its chrysalis on our clothes line. Our vigilance paid off and we watched it push its way out of the chrysalis and unfurl its sloppy wings. What a show!

So, okay, August wasn’t a total wash. While still recovering, that very last morning of August I woke up early for no good reason, alone in the cottage, and like most mornings looked out over the lake. But this morning the full moon (a blue moon, no less) was setting over a slightly hazy, purple-pinkish horizon. It’s always pretty amazing to catch the moonset over the lake but usually it’s under the cover of night.

Anyway, we’re past the halfway mark of September as I write this on a hazy, warm, quiet morning on the lake. Besides apples and squash, September has given us a few rainbows, and I’ve seen plenty of snakes on my walks (all garter, I think). The woods are loaded with fungi, too. Other surprises and delights so far this month: a few days with my brother (who I don’t get to see nearly enough), and while my dad was here last weekend he agreed to let us help him down (and back up) the 36 stairs to the beach! He’s 94, and I don’t think he’s made that trek in at least 15 years. We all celebrated.

Today I’m doing homework, taking a pause to read in a hammock, walking the beach, and making a soup from the tomatoes, potatoes, green beans, zucchini, onion and garlic I bought from a local market stand on Friday. I’ve been slowly shooting my way through a roll of Lomochrome turquoise in my Minolta X700. Maybe I’ll try to finish that roll off today on a wander and get that off to the lab this week.

I think it’s going to be a good day.