So Long Sweet Summer

This is a Fall sky. 

A daily occurence this time of the year.  The type of clouds that you see coming in the distance, which announce their intent with their dark linings, that make you think, "Hmm, I shouldn't run tonight because it's going to pour". 

But, it never does.  Because these are Fall clouds, not Summer clouds.  Summer clouds do what they look like they're going to do, Fall clouds just sit there.  Sometimes, like tonight, the clouds will whip aggressively by with some vicious wind, but no rain.  Just darkness. Just another reminder that the days are cooling and a new season is upon us.

WOOO HOOOO!!!!!!

I freakin love Fall.  Yes, I love the new pencil smell, which tempts me to buy a box of pencils and have them sit unused on my desk because I'm a nurse and I only use black ink.  More so, I love the other Fall stuff more.  The sweaters, the scarves, the nutmeg and cinnamon smells, the harvest that's produced right before the first frost, the abundance of pumpkins and dried corn stalks and of course, Halloween stuff. 

I have a personal rule that I will not buy or decorate anything Halloweenish until the first of October.  Otherwise, it would get out of control.  I will admit that I looked at a Halloween magazine the other day, although I'm holding off for a Martha Stewart one really.  

Anyways,  it's starting to look like Fall.

K and I started classes today.  It's the last semester for me, second to last for him.  A bummer of course, because no one really wants to go to school, but we're kinda apathetic.  For him, it means a year of complete devotion to school and nothing else (except our wedding, right?).  For me, it's 5 months until I'm a RN.  Which means I have 5 months to learn (or relearn) everything that I need to know before I put IV medications into somebody's body.  

Still, we're going to miss Summer.  It was relatively uneventful, with the exception of our trip to Seatle (crap, I still haven't written about that) and our engagement party.  However, Summer still has a sweet spot in our hearts and we like the extra daylight and the chance to do summery things.  This weekend, we had a last hoorah, in a way.  

We celebrated a birthday.

Yep, that's frosting. 

And, on the same day, we celebrated a new beginning.  K's last day at work was Friday and I almost suprised him with a Happy Hour at one of our favorite bars downtown, complete with some of our closest friends.  We laughed, we drank, we took full advantage of the half priced appetizers and 2.50 drafts. 

We gave a dog a bath in the backyard, one of the true luxuries of the summer.  It means a garden hose and some Camp Soap, and a clean, humidity free bathroom upstairs. 

She did escape however, and much of our time was spent chasing after a soapy, slippery puppy with a vendetta against baths in general, especially of the backyard variety. 

I think that is my favorite picture of the summer.

We watched deer from the backyard again. 

We celebrated a friend's accomplishment and caught up with other friends that we hadn't seen in a while.  We drove an hour for a party all the while singing old 90's rock music, harmonizing and amazing ourselves with our knowledge of the lyrics. 

We ended Saturday night at a crowded Irish bar, finding a Seahawk game on.  Cheering for touchdowns yes, but also raising our hands in the air when a shot of the city or Snoqualmie Falls came on the screen. 

Fall is coming, yes. 

We love Fall, oh yes we do. 

But, tonight, even though I have books to read and papers to write, we're going to let Summer linger a little longer. 

We'll eat cherry tomatoes from the vine. 

And chase them around the yard. 

 

We'll sit in the backyard, toes plunged into bright green grass

And think, maybe it's a Summer sky afterall.