I love the last month of summer and I definitely won’t miss the miserably hot days in July. It’s the changing of a season that I’m so fond of, and as I write this on a Labor Day weekend, what most people consider to be the end of summer, I look for the signs that we are entering another season of the year. The autumn equinox which occurs on Sept. 22nd this year, is the actual end of summer and marks on the solstice calendar the beginning of fall. From that point on the nights grow longer and the daylight briefer.
In a country place that we visit year round, the fruit on an old pear tree ripens in late summer. The deer usually get to the pears before we do. One day the fruit hangs in bunches from the tree limbs and the next morning when we come outside with our cups of coffee, the pears are gone, and only a few mangled cores are left, scattered on the ground like small fallen corpses.
Late summer also brings the monarch butterfly as they travel south on their trek to Mexico. They hover around the butterfly bush, skittish, quickly drinking the nectar from the flowers, floating out of sight they disappear in the leaves of the trees across the street.
I like to to sit on the ocean beach this time of year. The cooler temperatures agree with my temperament and the sky is usually filled with beautiful clouds. Some days it feels like the sky, the water, and the slight chill in the air has all been prearranged just for my enjoyment and I walk up and down the beach, a camera slung over my shoulder, taking photos of these last beautiful days of summer.
The sunsets appear to be more beautiful than other times of the year. But trying to pick the most beautiful sunset would be like asking a parent which of their children is the favorite.
Another marker that the summer season is coming to a close is when the Shinnecock Indian Nation hosts a pow wow not far from where we stay. This is a photo of Aztec dancers that traveled from Mexico to participate in the festivities.
Hundreds of dancers from Indian Nations as far away as Arizona and Mexico join in the three day pow wow.
I have never seen such a beautiful array of costumes.
‘Tiny Tot Dancers’ danced with the parents,while some children were carried, sleeping in their mother’s arms. Many children as young at two and three years old, kept in step.
The pow wow was a fun filled day, a great way to participate in the waning summer season. I took over 200 photos and when I walked through the exit gate I was met by a stable of horses. I couldn’t help myself, I had to take a portrait of this lovely brown horse and if I were to name this steed I would call her Late Summer Beauty.
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