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Monday, September 13, 2010

Summer Sings Into Fall

The amplified music rolls over roofs, down alleys, spills into the house. I pause in the kitchen, knife poised over the last of the truly good cucumbers, tilt my head to listen as an amplified voice chatters excitedly in some Latin American tongue. Since my Spanish is limited to being able to ask for “one more, please” or to understand that if I “marco dos” I will hear the information regarding my bank account in a language other than my own, I have no idea what he’s saying, only that high, childish voices cheer and chant when he finishes.

The sound is confusing, muffled and bouncing among the two- and three-story houses. Jeff, two blocks away, sends a text: Is there music in the park today? He refers to the large park across the street. I go out onto the porch. There had been two shifts of Hispanic families and their futbol teams, the inevitable ice cream man trolling hopefully at their outskirts; but the park is empty now.

It’s a beautiful day, the kind that reminds you of summer’s fragility. Sure the leaves are green, the sky brilliantly blue, but every night, the temperature dips just a little bit lower, and the mornings now beg the question: Do I wear a jacket, knowing I won’t need it in the afternoon?

The quiet approach of fall – like the muffling silence of a blizzard – brings somberness with it. The wind blows in ever-cooler gusts, and something primordial in the back of my mind whispers “Store up. Make sure there will be enough.”

The music drifts over my roof and through my windows: a bass guitar, an electric piano, and a man’s plaintive voice.

I still can’t tell where it’s coming from or what he’s talking about, but it sounds like “say good-bye”.

27 comments:

furiousBall said...

wouldn't it be weird if that man had a planter's voice?

you'd just be like "i bet that guy just put some tomato seeds in some soil"

and one of your friends might say, "but it's september, terrible time to plant"

Big Fat Gini said...

I long for the fall. Summer in Texas lasts way too long and even now as I look out the window and see that the light is softer and that it's shady and breezy, I know that it's already 90 degrees out there. With 80% humidity.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you don't mind a new reader!

ellen abbott said...

What Big Fat Gini said. It gives me hope to know that it's made it to the US even if it is still 2,000 miles away. Sigh.

Simply Suthern said...

Sept 23rd, Autumnal Epuinox and a Full Moon.

I think it's time to let Summer slide away like the ice cream it melted.

Pearl said...

Glad to bring a little hope to the southern U.S. :-)

Promise you'll be here with words like "hot chocolate" and "hot stone massage" when I start writing about how much my fingers and toes hurt in January!

Anonymous said...

I would like to take you to lunch and sing your praises but alas, I am simply going to steal the term Funky Facial Fauna from your earlier post. I will be back to read more.
X David, NYC

cfoxes33 said...

What a nice post. My mornings are not "should I wear a jacket?" They are "should I not wear sandals?" Yes, I break rules.

Pearl said...

David, if you make any money with it (up to and including offers of beer, warm regards, and bites of sandwiches) let me know. :-)

cfoxes33, sandals? AH! Sandals. Yeah. Give us another two weeks or so and "sandals" will be in large Tupperware-style containers in the basement, waiting for spring...

Fred Miller said...

Mmm. I'm so looking forward to the cooler weather. Soon the cold of interplanetary space will wrap its bony fingers 'round the northern hemisphere. It's not so bad here, but I'll be thinking about you Minnesotans.

Becky C. said...

Oooh, wow, I love this one! I can feel it. Excellent writing.

Anonymous said...

This is the time of year when we Idahoans use our heaters and air conditioners simultaneously.

I call it the Summer/Fall sandwich; an oddity that lasts a few short weeks - then it's all heaters until the Winter/Spring milkshake.
=]

Kevin Musgrove said...

I can empathise with this entirely, thanks Pearl. Round here this is the transition time between "should I wear my raincoat" and "I should wear my raincoat."

Lynn said...

Just because I don't comment every time, don't think I don't come by and read!

Lynn said...

Was that a triple negative?

De Campo said...

Idahoans. Haha.

The mad woman behind the blog said...

Beautiful. I was having similar thoughts, noticing the different angle of the sun through my kitchen window.
What a lovely picture you've painted.

Check out the writing chops on this chic! that's what tweet about you is going to say!

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful post Pearl.
A lovely and so expressive introduction to the changing of the seasons...

Sadako said...

LOVE the feeling of summer turning into fall. It's so gorgeous.

It also makes me want to listen to the Charlotte's Web song about the changing of the seasons...Mother Earth and Father Time.

Notes From ABroad said...

Beautiful, Pearl, just beautiful.

"He" is in Argentina, singing to you, telling you to come visit ~

Pat said...

We've had one of the coolest summers on record here in California, so I'm not quite ready for the fall cool-down. Maybe we'll have an October heat wave that happens some years. I do like the brilliant blue skies behind the (yet to come) red and orange and yellow leaves.

Shrinky said...

I saw this scene play out in my minds eye so vividly, as I read. Yes, summer is ready to pack her case and head off soon (sigh), isn't she?

Anonymous said...

I'm comin' over there DeCampo....

Get ready for the beating, Brotha!
=]

Tamsin said...

Beautiful.

See Mom Smile said...

It is a little too early to be singing in fall. It was 95 degrees today. Enjoy your fall. We will see ours maybe in Oct.

Rawknrobyn.blogspot.com said...

How you write so beautifully about loud music is very impressive!
xoRobyn

Tempo said...

...and on the other side of the planet we are putting coats on in the morning and taking them off by lunchtime as we slowly warm toward the coming summer...Yay, spring is here!
Brave kids splash and play in the shallows as their parents wait a bit longer before making the plunge.

Pearl said...

Idahoans.

:-)

The comments are as good as the post.