"When Summer cools down, becomes less like July and a little bit more like September, the days feel so much more eventful. It's not that so much happens in August - nothing much really happens in any one month - but whatever does happen in August feels like it might be the last happening of its kind. It's the Last Chance effect of the end of Summer, and every last little thing is eventful.
Especially at dawn. I take this last chance to walk through my Village in the hour before dawn and in the early light I feel like I'm the original tourist in this strange, wonderful place that is my every day life. I walk in the cool remnants of the night so I can hear myself think. The only part of an August day that has peace and quiet is the hour before dawn. Once the sun rises, the bugs warm up, and the racket of the multitudes drowns out my own thoughts.
So I get up before the bugs do. In these early dawn moments is where you find August. Catch it while you can."
***
I love this page. I love the imagery it unfailingly creates and the feelings of intrigue and yet, comfortableness, it inspires. I love the idea of August as a foreign country. I love the sense of seasonal change that ever so often subtly catches my attention. I love being enveloped in an author's world.
So, I choose tonight to envelope you in mine. My experience, as you will find, however, was a little different than Swift's.
Dew on the car, grass, clothesline, spaghetti squash, blah, blah, blah...a sentiment perhaps more clearly relayed in the video (the screen is supposed to be black; my hope is that the audio alone will do the enveloping). 
Okay, Liza, this is a little scary. You should be in bed so that you will wake up refreshed and ready for the work you will be doing at the library. If you don't get the sleep you need, the patrons may find the director asleep on the job.
ReplyDeleteBy the way did you see Harvey or was it too early even for him?
Ha! No way! Dickie and I are 100% every second of every hour:)
ReplyDeleteI think 8:00 am is the earliest I've ever seen Harvey and it's usually later than that. He's not a morning rooster.
Classic line, "...I'm afraid people will think I'm crazy and call Scott Daniels to come pick me up." Do you know how many times I have said that to myself? I have not been on blogger for a few weeks and I've missed Pillow Book!! I need to get Swift out and catch up on August and what's to come. :)
ReplyDeleteBet Devin gets tired of seeing you and Scott pull in the driveway on weekend nights.
ReplyDelete;)
Thanks, Liza. This past week driving home a definite notice the subtle sunlight changing to a long shadow, a single leaf floating in a late summer wind, our prelude to THE season. August, a bridging, with Feb parallel. For many years, I labeled both February and August as months of uncoordinated, indecisive periods of time. Not so now. I need this transition, this "reset button", this settling of summer in my mind. I love that it stirs my longing for all things fall: coziness, smoky fires, spicy earthy aromas, tastes and textures,fluffing of our indoor nests, throws and flannel and my favorite pair of boots.
ReplyDeleteSounds like someone needs to do a Pillow Book entry...Linda, what a wonderfully vivid and interesting comment:) I think you're right...it's nice to have that transition period, hints here and there of all those things I crave 9 months out of the year.
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