We’ve had a pretty nice summer, not too hot, cool nights and mornings. The one thing we haven’t had is rain, it’s been pretty dry.

I have a loop I walk, sometimes lost in thought, other times stopping to chat with the people I’ve met. Mostly I watch for how things are the same and how things are different. Some houses are maintained perfectly so that they could be in a magazine. Others slowly decline, are sold to new people and remodeled, painted and loved again. The biggest changes are the plants. Come springtime, they appear, then grow, flower, bear fruit and die. The weather, the seasons, there’s always something new happening.

By August you can feel the beginnings of fall. It’s a ways off, but with the dry weather, the shorter days and the fruits and vegetables coming on, you can feel it coming.

Lawns are turning a soft brown.

Except for dandelions, they seem to be doing ok.

Echinacea does well in our hot dry summers.

And zinnias, growing and blooming and loving the sun.

Luckily, there was no dog to bother me when I took a picture of these gorgeous roses.

Harvest season is here. Vegetable gardens line the sidewalks. These cherry tomatoes are growing over a fence. Almost ready to be picked.

How about these corn stalks? You can just see one of the ears, close to ripe.

The fruit trees seem to be on steroids. This one, bursting with pears hanging over the sidewalk. I have to duck to walk by.

The most outrageous tree has been dropping apples for days. They line the sidewalk with a narrow path through.

I try to get out early, before it gets too hot, walk my loop, make my plans and get ready for the day.

Whether you’re spending your August at a lake, by the beach or in your neighborhood, I’m sending all my happy end of summer wishes to you and yours.