TheBanyanTree: Dog Days

[Margaret R. Kramer]

According to the calendar, yesterday, August 11, was the last Dog Day of the
year.  I believe “dog days” are not related to dogs overheating on hot
summer days, but of the dog constellation in the night sky which is visible
for part of August.  Summer is fading away fast, but I’m sure we’ll still
have a few hot and humid days before it all really winds down for us
Minnesotans towards the end of September.

Other than the last Dog Day, my August calendar is virtually void of events.
We kept a frenetic pace in July going from one activity to another, which
doesn’t make sense when it was so hot, but then, we want to immerse
ourselves in summer pleasures as much as we can while we can.  But August
stretches ahead without any major commitments and maybe now I can capture
what I love as an adult, but hated as a child, days that drift aimlessly on
their own.

However, these driftless days have a bit of tension to them – we’re waiting.
We’re waiting for the State Fair to start.  We’re waiting for school to
start.  My youngest grandson will be going to kindergarten this year.  Tears
will be shed as the baby of the family goes through the school door.  He’s
not looking forward to it even though he’ll have his brother’s teacher and
has been to the school many times.  He knows the physical territory, but I’m
sure he’s worried about making friends and all that kind of nameless stuff.
We keep telling him he’ll be fine, but he won’t believe it until he actually
has the experience.

I’m waiting for school to school start, too.  I suppose it’s because for
many years August and September were the months when we bought supplies and
clothes.  Adding to that, my workplace is contributing school supplies to an
organization which distributes them to needy children.  It was fun to go
into the school supply aisle at Target this week and buy paper, notebooks,
pens, and scissors.  It was all I could do not to buy pens and paper for
myself, because I love that kind of stuff, but I have plenty at home.

Target had in its dollar section tons of workbooks and flash cards, so I
bought a bunch of stuff for the boys.  The older grandson, he’s seven years
old, loves workbooks, and I’m sure the easy math flash cards will come in
handy for the younger one.  I also bought a math bingo game since the older
one is currently in love with bingo and having him do math problems with the
game is icing on the cake.

So we wait for school to start.  The fall calendar fills up and we go full
speed ahead until Christmas.

We’re waiting for the weather to change, too.  We’re never happy with the
weather in Minnesota.  When it’s cold, we long for HOT.  When it’s hot, we
long for COLD.  I heard a lot of whining about the recent hot weather, but
we have so many ways to cool off, I’m not sure why people whine.  But we had
our hot July and now people are tired of it and want to move the next phase,
cooler weather and fall color.  Why do we hurry our lives away?

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net

War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
~Bertrand Russell