Good-bye and Good Riddance to Summer

Summer is the only season I don't like. It has always been thus. Even as a child, I viewed summer as three long months of heat and boredom. So, when Labor Day arrives, I feel like celebrating. It feels cooler, no matter wha the temperature actually is. Even the sudden realization that there are only three months until Christmas doesn't dampen my mood.

Fall is usually beautiful in the Ozarks. The leaves change color from deep green to varying shades of red, orange and yellow. The countryside is populated with Maple trees and many others. But, the Maples are the most colorful. You can have your Oak trees, Tulip trees, Dogwoods and Magnolias, etc. Give me a brilliant Sugar Maple in the Fall any day.

Fall also brings with it the schools opening their doors once again. It warms this old heart to think about classrooms full of the little beggars, which means they are not playing outside my apartment windows, running, squealing and inevitably, screeching and bawling.

Fall also begins the new season of television shows on the networks. Ever the optimist, I look forward to the new programs and the continuation of favorites. It will probably be late in October before we realize just how bad the new shows are. By then, I will have my viewing schedule established just in time for the late Fall, early Winter reruns.

After the holidays, many of the new programs will disappear and be replaced with either a new crop of hopefuls or the ever popular MASH and NCIS reruns.

Sometime soon, our local pubic library will finally catch up with every other library in the country and offer e-books.  I look forward to that because there are lots of books out there that I want to read, but don't want to purchase. I can't check them out because they are full of cat hair. E-books may be the solution.

Let's raise a glass to Fall, season of anticipation morphing into the welcome chill of Winter, then Spring, harbinger of yet another long hot summer.  And, so it goes.

Stay tuned.