We went away again last week to a lake. It was cool and rainy. It felt and smelled like fall, not like fall was coming, but fall. A few trees had starting to change color. It was too cold to swim (two kids tried), too rainy to boat, and too muddy/slippery/wet to try our favorite hikes. We kept commenting on how much it felt like summer was over, even though we knew we still have a couple of good weeks left of swimming and beaches, we truly couldn’t convince ourselves. Stripping the beds felt like we were packing them up for winter.
So when I got home and found another nice batch of green beans in the garden, I was excited. Summer is not over. Dilly green beans have become a favorite in the family and I had enough between the garden and the week’s CSA haul to fill two quart jars and bottle up summer. I got everything ready and packed the beans into the jars and put them in the water bath for canning.
But after a little while the kitchen started smelling like dill.
One of the jars had cracked and soon beans were floating at the top of the water! I immediately assumed it was a sign that summer really was over. I solidified this idea when the second jar of beans hadn’t sealed when I checked in the morning.
Soon after told the kids we’d start thinking about prepping ourselves for school minds and bodies. We still have swimming to do, museums to visit, rocks to paint, cucumbers and peppers to pickle, and other summer things on the agenda, but this week, we will try to get dressed and have teeth brushed before coming downstairs, and practice getting out of the house early for the summer things, and take inventory on lunch boxes, rain coats and soccer cleats.
Make the best of these days, people, it’s not over yet!
