Is it still Summer?

"Is it still summer?" Frank asked when I called him in out of the yard last night.

"Well, yeah, technically," I said.

The kids are in school, the pools are empty, the State Fair opened, there's a football game next weekend, but it is still summer. Some evenings are cool and pleasant and others are muggy and hot. It's still summer.

This morning I got up early and drove through rolling farmland to get to a 9am hearing. The corn is as tall as it will be. It is well over my head. And the irrigation has stopped. The corn is browning - green but also brown - and it will stand in the fields until harvest time - in the fall.

Farm country makes me sad. I always find myself tearing up as I drive through corn. I think that it is the visual reminder of the passage of time that makes me sad - spring/dark soil, little seedlings - summer/wet soil, talk, green stalks - fall/dry soil, tall, brown stalks - winter/puddles of ice between the barren rows and snow. I feel how fleeting it all really is with the physical reminders of time.