Summer drawing to an end

What could inspire a blog posting more than the arrival of Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbuck's? Oh yes. I love you, tasty little PSL. Thank you, Howard Schultz.

It seems strange that PSLs are here already because, to me, they have always been a harbinger of autumn. Is it autumn already? It does feel like autumn here. Though this past weekend was hot -- it probably seemed hotter because I was baking in the sun all weekend at Sand in the City -- it is quickly turning cooler. Think end-of-September weather in Cincinnati. Jeans-and-sweater weather. Long-sleeve-shirt-when-you're-running weather.

The autumn always makes me nostalgic. It is my favorite season, and it has always been the source of my best and most vivid memories: Red River Gorge, Graeter's pumpkin ice cream, Sacred Heart ravioli dinner, Detroit Half-Marathon, Columbus Marathon, Lake Walloon, etc, etc. Strange -- I will sorely miss the Midwest in the autumn. "Fall" here means the beginning of rainy season (though we are currently in the middle of a drought), and "fall colors" here means three different shades of evergreen.

Love of the season notwithstanding, autumn always brings on a sense of panic, too. I think this is rooted in the anxiety I felt as a kid when I realized that summer was ending and school (ie, nine months of self-inflicted stress and torment) was about to begin. I always wondered where the days had gone, and by age 10, I had started worrying about time passing too quickly. (Sometimes I gave myself stomachaches on Friday nights because I was afraid that the weekend was going to be over before I had the chance to enjoy it. Ah, neurotic by age 10. Is it any wonder I have about 15,000 phobias and a rapidly increasing number of grey hairs?)

So, now I ask the same question I asked twenty years ago: How can summer almost be over already? I feel like I am still waiting for summer. It just didn't seem like summer without the oppressive heat and humidity that causes people to flee from their air-conditioned offices to their air-conditioned homes.

It reached the 90's for about five consecutive days last month, and the local population was practically melting into the sidewalks. Seriously, it was like people were incapable of functioning. My boss, who came to OlyWa from Virginia, assures me that my definition of heat will gradually change, and someday soon I too will consider sunny, low 80's and 5% humidity a heatwave.

Meanwhile, the season's change is happily manifesting itself in our yard. Apples from two of our trees have come and gone (only 1 hippie showed up to pick the fruit this year). A third tree is filling up with a different kind of apples, and we are keeping our eye on the pear tree to see if its fruit is edible. We have blackberries galore in the backyard, which we are picking -- and eating -- by the bowlful.

Good grief, are we turning into hippies? No, I don't think so -- I don't think hippies support the evil Starbuck's empire by indulging in PSL bliss.

One monkey off our back

Today is the day we have been waiting for. We are no longer homeowners in Cincinnati! That is to say, we have officially sold our house! That is to say, we are no longer paying two mortgages! Saints be praised!

At first, I thought, "Oh (sniff sniff), won't it be sad to leave our home in Clifton?" But after days, weeks and finally months of cautious optimism, just waiting for the deal to go through, I've traded in the weepy sentimentalism for a healthy dose of pragmatism.

Now I must give propers to:
- My Uncle Mike, who handled the testy buyers with his typical aplomb. Does anything ever rattle this guy?
- Our tenants, Lauren & Jody and Dyani & Jeremy, who win the prize for "World's Best Tenants." In fact, I'm pretty sure that our former living space looked about 200% better after we moved out and J&L moved in. Oh, and props to their little dog Sedgewick just for being so cute.
- Our "property managers," S+J, who resigned from their position a while ago but still deserve recognition for being good friends.

It is good to have the house monkey off our backs.