Holy Snappers! It's September first!
Cool, crisp days are ahead. Like sticking your head in a frost-free refrigerator. Not so crisp right away here in the Mediterranean climate of the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island. We still keep mild and there'll be lots of sunshine before the rains roll in come November.
Boy do we need the rain.
It's the same every summer.
Drought, fires and brown.
The "winter" greens up nicely. Anemones, Winter Jasmine, snowdrops and Camellias bloom shortly after the new year a time that our friend Tall Steve calls "spring". There always seems to be something in bloom on our Island.
September first.
School.
Elections (Bah-Humbug)
Harvest decor. Thanksgiving. Light parades.
Santa Claus Parades and then "BOOM"- Christmas.
It seems to fly by faster every year.
Come September and the first cool, damp day I can't help myself. I pick up my stack of Christmas Magazines that go back more than 20 years.
I sort them by titles as well as by years.
Some of the Home Magazines from the 80's start to look a little dated. I may flip through their colourful pages like a kid in a candy shop but mostly it's just a flip through.
Here on the Island we don't have raking to do like back at Pine Tree House. Our trees and most shrubs are evergreen- at least on our property. People do have Maples but a tall, Arbutus keeps leaves year round and looks spectacular in January.
Costco will have their assortment of trees ready soon and last week I could see Home Depot was shuffling summer stuff out of the aisle to make way for seasonal decor. Of course, because of the weather here lawnmovers, blowers, mulch, bags of dirt and more are available year round. You won't see a display of shovels and scrapers appear until we have a few centimetres of snow and then it's all very last minute.
Last year just before a freek, February snowstorm the Mister asked the fellah in Canadian Tire for a snow scraper. We hadn't brought one from Ontario.
The fellah scratched his head and said- "We should have a box of them around here somewhere, if I could just remember where. Could you come back tomorrow?"
The Mister assured him we could to which he answered- "A credit card works!"
"We use debit mostly."- replies the Mister.
"No, No."- The Canadian Tire man says, "I mean to scrape your windshield!"
The Island, eh?
So as the light fades a little more each evening and we feel a bit of a "chill" in the air, thoughts- my thoughts at least, turn to another season not too far off where I dream of pumpkin pie, whipped cream,
oatmeal for breakfast and holiday shopping.
I'd better get making a list...
