Just Because It’s September, Doesn’t Mean Summer Is Over . . .

… because it’s not.

But the vibe kind of changes, because kids are back in school. Football season begins this weekend. And, even though magazine photos show football fans all bundled up in coats and hats and mufflers, Texas football spectators will be wearing lightweight clothes, except for those mascots who wear large, heavy, body-enclosing costumes.

These limbs and twigs with brown leaves will, eventually, lose all these dead leaves and waft their way down to the ground, in a few months. Maybe

Except for trees that are experiencing severe moisture stress, leaves won’t be falling for a while. Twigs are falling off the pecan tree, but that’s not unusual, at any season. They get broken off during high winds and sort of stay hanging around, up in the tall parts of the tree. Their leaves dry up, and, maybe months later, they make their way down through the leafy boughs and, plop, finally sink to earth. And I put them in the green bin.

Speaking of bins, our trash bin has gotten pummeled by the trash-bin-picking-up-mechanically truck. It had great gashes in the side, and we became a little concerned that, at some point, our trash bags will just gently tumble down to the street when the truck tries to hoist it up. David phoned the city’s Waste Management folks who said, “Do that online.” Last week he put our information and user number into an online document. They called Tuesday and said to put the old one out on the curb Wednesday night and, on Thursday, they would pick it up and leave a new one for us. I’d forgotten about it until about 9:00 p.m., and raced out, under the cover of darkness, in my nightgown, to put it out. Mid-morning Thursday, they came!

And, Peter came for a pre-starting-a-new-school-year visit. Of course, it was just too hot, hot, hot for much outdoor activity, beyond walking across a parking lot to the car.

Last Monday, I took Peter back to Fort Worth. We ran some errands before going back to his house. Spy Base 1 was our house, which we left at about 9:30 a.m.

At Peter’s we found that his first Top Secret Adventure packet arrived!

Spy Base 3 was Central Market, where I had a salad for lunch and Peter had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some milk. We sat outside to eat, next to a play area. There was a little girl and her mom, there, too. Peter went over to them and said, “Hi!” And he and the girl played together for a while. Then, when their faces were red from hard play in the heat, Peter and I went on to Spy Base 4, Container Store. Then, on the Spy Base 5! Peter’s house!

I know it’s all a cycle. And, I guess if I want to avoid these horrid summers, I’ll have to move. But, then I might be in a place with severe winters, which really does seem worse to me. Or, a place that is prone to fires. Or a place that’s so arid that only cactus grows well.

Meanwhile, I keep seeing the holes in the ground that the cicadas emerge from. But, I haven’t seen any of their exoskeletons on the brick walls of the house, like we did last summer. And I know it’s not merely holes from last year, because I hear them singing (or however it is they create their buzzing music at sundown). This evening, when I went out to photograph the Ming fern, they were in chorus in all the neighborhood trees. The sound of summer. And, to my ears, it sounded like they were singing “Music! Music! Music!” I sang along.