Friday Favorites – My Favorite Things About the End of Summer

***This is the first post in a new series called Friday Favorites – every Friday I will release a new Friday Favorites topic.  Participation is easy, just link up to the latest Friday Favorites post and let us know in the comments that you’re participating so we can all check out your favorites.  Next week’s Friday Favorites topic will be “your favorite poem”.  ***

I can’t believe how fast the year is flying by.  It seems like we were just taking down the Christmas tree and now Labor Day weekend has come and gone.

Labor Day seems to mark the end of summer, though according to the calendar, fall doesn’t begin until September 22^nd this year.  So it seems like the next couple of weeks mark the tail end of summer.  I’ve always loved the very end of summer. 

I love how the nights and mornings are already a little cooler.  The days are still warm, even a little hot some days, but the nights and early mornings are cooler.  The air conditioner doesn’t run as much, and there’s a peaceful silence late at night and early in the morning.

I’m enjoying harvesting the very last of the garden produce.  In our garden, we’re down to only cherry tomatoes, but they are still going strong, and are still sweet and delicious.  It’s interesting to see how much longer they will last.  

There’s also an anticipation in the air.  Fall is coming and seems to be on everyone’s mind. Some might argue that anticipating fall isn’t part of summer’s end, but I think it is.  There’s a rhythm to swapping out the summer clothes for warmer pieces and breaking out the soup and stew recipes in anticipation of using them soon.  Sometimes looking forward to something is better than the event itself.  The end of summer offers that for fall. 

The end of summer offers the ritual of the last time wearing certain clothes and shoes this year, or the last trip to the pool, or last vacation this year.  Some things are made so much sweeter when there’s a finite time for enjoying them – watching the tan lines fade and putting away the breezy summer dresses until next year.  I love to savor the very end of summer and watch it slowly turn into the beginning of fall.