August: hot days, cool quiet mornings, school starts next week. Shining sun and clouds – a premonition of autumn.
It’s a time to savour: hold on just a little longer to those long light nights that are already getting shorter. A time to remember that the sun shone high in the sky well past 10.30 at night.
Hot air ballooning at 10 pm
It’s a time for sweaty or wet (depending on the weather) blueberry picking in the mosquito-haunted woods. And for lingering swims in warm waters. And ice cream.
August is a time to love and hate with its dazzling days that can turn chilly on a whim, with those glorious sunsets putting on a peacock show of colours earlier and earlier.
It’s a time to enjoy the blossoms of summer, even as they wither on the stem.
A bit like life really.
For more nostalgic posts, check out: That’s My World!
August 12, 2009 at 6:43 am
I’m so sad that the days are getting shorter!
August 12, 2009 at 6:56 am
What a beautiful tribute to the shortening days of summer. Excellent captures.
August 12, 2009 at 8:11 am
That made me feel quite melancholy!! I can’t believe summer is on it’s way out already!!
C x
Ps. I love your flower circle wreath thing
August 12, 2009 at 8:40 am
Beautiful images and for me of course our days are getting longer. Spring is on its way.
August 12, 2009 at 8:56 am
Your yard and grass are so LUSH looking! I looked tonight at my withering fescue and lamented its demise in the 104 degree temps. The sun shining at 10:30? THAT I could get into. Lovely post. Beautiful wreath. Oh! And how was your holiday? Did I miss something?
August 12, 2009 at 9:43 am
Holiday has been here at home and at the little red cottages, so you haven’t missed much!
School starts next week.
August 12, 2009 at 10:09 am
LOL! That isn’t our yard, it’s the neighbours’! Ours has a far lower grass-to-dandelion ratio than that :-p
August 12, 2009 at 9:46 am
Sigh, we had so little sun and warmth here this summer that it is sad to think it is gone before it ever really came! There is a wistfulness about this post that is poignant… good start to the new school year to you and your children. Are they all in school?
August 12, 2009 at 9:52 am
I’ve got two kids. One is 8 and is starting Year 2. The other is 6 and is starting Year 0… school isn’t compulsory here until you are seven, when you go into Year 1. The ‘Year 0′ is a kind of preparation for school…
August 12, 2009 at 10:38 am
I’m just about to move from Brighton to Hove actually! Sweden sounds better though.
I actually love autumn; it’s my favourite time of year – I love the smell of woodsmoke, the taste of roast chestnuts and berries, the way the light changes, halloween then bonfire night then my birthday. I like putting my scarf or jumper on (but not needing a coat yet) and kicking through colours of leaves. Yes, I love autumn!
August 12, 2009 at 11:11 am
The snaps are really beautiful. I just loved the snap of balloon high up in the sky. It is sad that days are getting shorter. But it will e back to good days soon.
August 12, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Beautiful summary of what the end of summer means. I can feel with you, what you are going through.
August 12, 2009 at 1:17 pm
A lovely end of summer post! Can’t believe school is starting back next week! I have one back on 28th August and complaining bitterly as the other one is not back until 7th September!!
Autumn is our favourite time of the year here – love all the colours and smells! We don’t really get a summer any more so you have to be positive and look to the autumn!!
August 12, 2009 at 1:53 pm
SO nostalgic! My boys return to school in early September. I see the better half of August ahead of me and I’m trying to make each day last a little longer too. Enjoy!
August 12, 2009 at 2:02 pm
School starts so early here (last Monday) so I actually forget it is still summer. Great photos.
August 12, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Waxing wonderfully lyrical, ladyfi! Beautiful and haunting words and thoughts…
See you after my hols, take care…
(Oh, and I love the woozle (the dog!) – Very charming!) xox
August 12, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Such a calming and colorful post! I forget that daylight hours are so different in other areas. I had to reread that the balloon was up at 10:30pm twice…I almost thought it was 10:30am.
August 12, 2009 at 2:17 pm
I must be getting older as it doesn’t seem that long ago that you wrote about snow and the cold. Perhaps summer is getting shorter, and winter longer. Your wooden deck and grass, and flowers look so inviting. Even with sprinklers, our lawn doesn’t look as dewy and lush, but I do live in what was previously, a desert. Enjoy the last of summer. My son starts school on September 10th. Much later in southern California.
August 12, 2009 at 2:17 pm
This is absolutely lovely writing, Lady Fi. Lovely.
August 12, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Such a bittersweet time of year. I always want to hang onto summer, but the next season has its own charms. Very nice post!
August 12, 2009 at 2:19 pm
You’ve really captured the spirit of August here!!!
I’ve just dipped myself in the sea for the first time since I moved here… 10 years ago!
P.S. About perspective: the cookie was an average sized dröm (I’d love to call them dreams!), about 4 cm across
August 12, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Beautiful images of your Swedish summer. The first is just lovely and my favorite this morning. Thanks for your visit to my world ;–)
Hugs and blessings,
August 12, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Ladyfi: Those are neat images of your late nights of Sweeden, great flowers.
BTW: Great guess yesterday.
August 12, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Beautiful pictures…August is a great month!
August 12, 2009 at 5:09 pm
beautifully poetic!
August 12, 2009 at 6:33 pm
I live in Paraguay, in the southern cone, so we are just finishing our summer and the days are a bit longer now. I would love to visit your country!
August 12, 2009 at 6:51 pm
It’s always time for ice cream – even in February
August 12, 2009 at 7:07 pm
I feel pretty sad because to me it feels like summer is over before it really even began. Why does it tease us like that?
August 12, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Your last line … so true! Here in Texas, I can’t wait for the summer to end and to have pleasant weather again. You are at the other extreme.
August 12, 2009 at 8:36 pm
So pretty there!
August 13, 2009 at 2:57 am
The place look so peaceful
Thanks for the visit & have a nice day.
August 13, 2009 at 3:40 am
Beautiful pictures! I love the flower wreath on the fence
Thanks for sharing.
August 13, 2009 at 6:41 am
I think Scandinavian autumns are wonderful, But I left Denmark in the begining of winter, so I never saw the real cold weather. Your photos of Sweden are lovely!
August 13, 2009 at 7:12 am
So true, each withering away summer teaches us that we too are mortal and makes it one hopes, easier to let go of it at the end…..
August 13, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Augh! I’m not ready for the end of summer yet. It is too soon for the days to get shorter! Too soon for the flowers to fade! I’m not prepared!
August 13, 2009 at 1:02 pm
These pictures made me quite homesick. I haven’t been back to Finland and Sweden this summer, and it makes me so sad the season is nearly over there. In the UK August is still considered high summer.
A nice blog, I’m new here but will visit again soon.
August 13, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Sweden’s really beautiful. LadyFi, what camera do you use?
August 13, 2009 at 4:57 pm
I’ve got a Canon Power Shot digital camera – nothing fancy. The first and last photo were snapped with my iPhone. They came out quite well. My daughter took the blueberry snap on her Sony Cybershot.
August 13, 2009 at 8:19 pm
The photo of the balloon would make a good birthday card.
August 14, 2009 at 4:33 am
Wonderful pics. I’d have liked to be in that balloon.
August 14, 2009 at 7:55 am
Oh you lucky girl – back to school so soon. We have another whole month teetering on the edge of insanity! Lovely pictures.
August 14, 2009 at 8:46 am
Well, school did finish mid-June, so it is still quite a long holiday. Seem to have managed to retain threads of sanity this year though…
August 14, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Beautiful and beautiful photos as well. I love what you wrote about the love/hate of August. Just so true.
August 15, 2009 at 3:45 am
A lovely post indeed. I think someday I shall move to Sweden because of your blog.
August 15, 2009 at 3:56 am
August is made for remembering in January!
August 15, 2009 at 6:15 am
Would that my August days turn chilly on a whim.
Have you got spare room? We’re on our way.
August 15, 2009 at 4:41 pm
I love these images because August in Texas means the hottest month of the summer and no desire to go outdoors except to swim!!
August 15, 2009 at 8:10 pm
What lovely photos…. and even though fall is my favorite season, it is sad that winter is just behind it. We started out very rainy today, quite rare for Kansas in August, and now the sun keeps peeking out and it’s very, very windy! I can hear the wind rattling different parts of the house. But I like that sound, it’s rather comforting in an odd sort of way.
Hope you are enjoying your last days of summer, and wow, I would love it to stay light here until 10 pm!
August 17, 2009 at 5:32 am
School ..next week? Where has the summer gone? Hope you have properly shopped for suitable clothing for the anklebitters..that must have been an adventure..or are you putting it off until the last minute? Your post was lovely..very wistful..:)