How can it be here already?
The last week of summer is upon us. Even though the calendar tells us the summer season isn’t actually over until Friday, Sept. 21, we all know the summer is kaput.
You could actually feel the weather turn over the past week. While the days are still warm, the sun’s rays just don’t pack the same wallop as they did a few short days ago at the Roots and Blues Festival. And speaking of that, tonight is your last chance to check out Salmon Arm’s other favourite summer music pastime – Wednesday on the Wharf wraps up its season tonight with Paul Filek on at 6:45. That’s also a sure sign summer’s coming to a close.
I’ve spent the last week eating delicious corn on the cob, that quintessential summer food, with every supper in an effort to stave off the feeling that the grey, overcast days and the return to long pants and socks is not far off.
The mornings have a distinct chill and each day I lament the fact that it is getting harder and harder to see as I take my morning walk in the park. Soon, I will be relegated to walking on pavement under the streetlights.
By the time you are reading this newspaper next week, the kids will be back in school, to the delight of some and the chagrin of others. Suddenly I find myself enmeshed in the juggling act of work schedules, school schedules and extra-curricular activities, something that has become more onerous now that I have three kids old enough to want to participate in seemingly every sport and activity under the sun.
The closure of Zellers also has me all turned around, as I suddenly realized my search for backpacks and lunchboxes would have to take place elsewhere.
It just doesn’t seem like time to be thinking about winter coats, buying boots and figuring out who might need new cross-country skis… but if this summer is any indication, winter’s going to be here before I blink.
This summer seems particularly poignant because it has seemed so fleeting. Our exceptionally cool June and the flooding of parks and beaches pushed back that Shuswap summer feeling. On the brighter side, we have worried much less about fires this year than most. Unfortunately for many who rely on it, the tourism industry seemed to be down. The beaches didn’t seem as clogged, grocery store lines didn’t seem as long and I hardly cursed anyone with Alberta plates out on the highway.
The local Visitor Information Centre reported fewer people coming into the area, and just my anecdotal chats with merchants seems to bear this out. A short summer could mean tighter belts for these merchants come winter.
There is a brighter spot, in that I heard an interview with a meteorologist, who was predicting a slightly warmer September than normal for the Okanagan-Shuswap region.
We can all hope.
