"Rich as wine, the sunset flashes..."

Rich as wine, the sunset flashes

Round the tilted world, and dashes

Up the sloping west and splashes

Red foam over sky and sea —

Till my dream of Autumn, paling

In the splendor all-prevailing,

Like a sallow leaf goes sailing

Down the silence solemnly.

From "A Dream of Autumn" by James Whitcomb Riley

I saw a picture of Coaches Bob Bridge and Tim DuBois on Facebook this morning, sitting on a bench at the edge of North Miami's football field. A cluster of footballs lay on the ground beneath the bench. There they were, the true Legends of the Fall in this part of the county. Go, Warriors.  

Photo by Wendy Keim

My sister-in-law texted me the other day that four of their grandkids were in Purdue at one time. We have one at Ball State and another coaching volleyball in Texas. Only one remains in public school, and he's in middle school. My teacher kids are back in their classrooms, too. Where does the time go?

The road past the school, which stays pretty quiet in summer, crackles with activity now. You need to be careful at the three-way stop at Meridian, because too many people aren't. A bus goes past our house twice a day. I don't believe I'll ever be old enough not to love seeing it. 

The orchards are gearing up. They're busy all year, but this has to be their busiest time. Researching for a book made me aware of different apples at different times, and now whenever we drive past, I wonder which will be first, which will be best, and what will be my new favorite. 

I'm a morning person, and they have been wonderful this middle of August time. Not cool enough to be crisp, but soft instead, and the sun has put on so many free shows in the mornings and the evenings. We had the air conditioning off and the windows open for two weeks. The grass isn't very green and color is beginning to leech from the fields and the leaves on the trees, although not much yet. The corn still rustles instead of crackling. 

Birds are ramping up their suet consumption and I wonder if they're fattening for the winter. I know I am, which is a whole other story, but fall food is so good, isn't it? It's great baking time.

I realize I'm meandering here. It's been a busy week and I'm enjoying its end. I'm drinking my first cup of coffee and watching the gluttonous redheaded woodpecker hanging on the suet feeder. The blue jay, the size of a small chicken, has already been here. Neither of them wanted their picture taken and left.

It's a great day for counting blessings.

Have a good week. Be nice to somebody.