Late Summer Blues (Berries and the other kind)

Somehow we've gotten here already. Mid-August. Ripe blueberries are the psychological and gustatory antidote to my admittedly glum feelings around Summer's end. I could do with another July.Our Summer began with my mother-in-law's death and the subsequent visits and organizing and family stuff that happens when a matriarch dies. I'm not really sure my husband has even properly grieved her death, with all the tasks he had to see to.July was hijacked by family visits (though I love my family) and a constant stream of house guests. Was just getting a handle on August, and then the recent hate violence in Charlottesville—despicable and discouraging and shocking. I'd like an additional July free of anything but hiking and kayaking and river swimming and yoga and gardening. And, yes, I do hear myself whining. I love my life. I am privileged to live it as I do. It's just going a little too fast and with a little too much heartache.There were many times this Summer I tried to sit down and write about death and dying, because we stared down a lot of it this Summer. But I just didn't have it in me. I tried to write about my sweet elderly dog Suki who is pushing 15 and seems reluctant to leave this world, though she struggles with everything. But it felt too much like I was writing a eulogy. I tried to write about the very hard deaths of a couple of friends, but neither is my story to write about. And I cannot write about this horrifying violence in Virginia; I both appreciate and hate social media at times like this, when people do truly bad things. I'm glad there are so many eloquent voices trying to help everyone understand how such evil sh*t happens in 2017, helping us figure out who to write letters to, what petitions to sign, and where to send donations to help people who were injured. It needs to be written about. I'm glad other people are using their heart and intellect to do so.And, here we are. August 15.I've run out of time to dwell on the "now" of Summer, because I have a Fall schedule to plan and adapt around changing teacher schedules. I regularly receive requests for financial assistance for classes but our Karma Fund is in the red, so I'm planning a by-donation class for Labor Day to rebuild the Fund (see Event list at right. Please sign up and bring friends!).I feel the very real pull of September and so though I yearn to mush my toes into the warm mud of Summer and stay put there, I really can't, if I want to stay on top of things.Though it sounds like a pity party, trust me, it's not! I love everything about Fall, once I get there. I love the renewed energy at the studio, students coming back, new students coming for the first time, new, enticing classes filling out the schedule, all of it. I feel my own sails lift on the energy of Fall, I'm grateful for the students who bring that energy to the studio.But. If someone offered me a second July to do with as I wished, I wouldn't say no.In the meantime, if you come to a class in Thetford, feel free to bring a container and pick some blueberries after class. I'm happy to share my blues. There are about 16 bushes behind the barn, back by the field.