It’s the last day of Summer, I’m sorry to say. Usually by now I’m ready for turtlenecks and season premieres. But we had such a great Summer with the girls this year that I’m not quite ready to let it go.

This was the first Summer that Cate didn’t have to take a mid-day nap. She still needs them sometimes (don’t we all!) but she can skip them at will as well. So we went on a lot of adventures this Summer: exploring parks we’d never been to, swimming in salt water, picking blackberries in back alleys. On a lark I started an art journal called “One Day This Summer…” It was my way of capturing these special days without having to write down every little thing in a journal entry, or create a scrapbook page replete with stickers and color coordinated borders. I’ m a big proponent of story telling and memory making, but sometimes I think we try so hard to capture the moment that we aren’t actually present to it when it happens. I think of it of the tyranny of scrapbooking — or the enslavement of the video camera. At any rate, I had lots of fun with our little journal and you’ll probably see bits of it popping up when I’m feeling overshadowed by the Grey Season here in Seattle (formerly known as Fall-and-Winter.)

Even though I’m sad to see the Summer go, I’m very excited to celebrate the first day of Fall with my neighbors. Our family motto is “It’s not really Fall ’till you’ve had your first bowl of chili.” So tomorrow night, Paul and I will light all the little latern jars that the Monks have hung in our trees. Josh and T will firespin (or at least glow stick spin) one last time. The grown ups will get silly on the giant trampoline, and I’ll serve up bowls of chili to anyone who will eat it. Last year about 40 friends and neighbors came by. I hope to see a similar happy crowd tomorrow night as we lift our long necks and offer a toast of gratitude to all things Fall-ish.

Happy last day of Summer….Happy first day of Fall.

Turn, turn, turn…..