.....act 2

Yogis,
If summer were a play, August would be act 2.

June and July feel like a party! Act 1. Everything revving up for good times. Fireworks, barbecues, swim meets and festivals. The days are long and I get the joy of waking to run in the fresh daylight of early morning and then head up to bed at night while the sun still sits low in the sky. Birds are singing, nests prepared and babies testing out their new wings as they venture out to see what the world has to offer.

In the garden these months, I am busy planning, planting and tending as the flowers and vegetables send down roots and establish themselves. I watch as they begin to bud and wind their tendrils through the openings of the fence. A time of preparation and anticipation. Everything new. Everything neat. Everything growing.

Then comes my personal intermission. Our week in North Carolina always falls on the last week of July. Being away that one single week provides a perspective on change. My return coincides with July’s peak which immediately gives way to the incredible shift that August brings is as if the entire stage was cleared and a new set has been arranged as the curtain rises.

The first thing I notice when my alarm goes off at 5:14 am is I am greeted with …….dark. Ugh. And although birds begin to chirp while I am still out there, it is a much more subdued song. Their tempo has changed as parental duties begin to slip away. Foxes less visible with their young now on their own.

In fact, everything is quieter. Here in the DC area August 1^st trumpets the mass exodus to anywhere that isn’t here. Roads, swim clubs and restaurants suddenly have space. Less kids on bikes. Fewer dogs being walked. Trails empty. No lines. At times it feels eerie. I have always liked it.

My herbal teacher once told me that on August 1 the trees begin the process of letting go, and she was right. Every year on August 1 single leaves float down to dot the lawn. Unexpected breezes even hint of the autumn to come……but not yet.

Act 2.

Those buds that I left in the garden are now open. Zinnias, echinacea and black eyed susans scattered throughout the wheel offer vibrant splashes of color, while the early mints and lemon balm begin to go to seed. Hand picked bouquets are always the best. Where there were flowers when I left, two cucumbers hang heavy. Everything full and lush, yet small tinges of August yellow already peeking through.

The lightening bugs replaced by August’s nightly insect chorus which has always been my late summer sound machine. With the window open, their hum draws me into a dream world. Spider webs appear.

Where June and July are one big inhale, August invites us to breathe out. Sit back, nice cool drink in hand, and enjoy act 2.

The bees play a leading role in this act,
SARAH