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A Facebook friend and wonderful writer,Jeanette Thomason, posted a comment on the anticipated change of seasons that comes along with the Labor Day holiday. You can read her comments here:http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/myjoetogo

This is my response to her post:

 I am almost convinced by your beautiful words and pictures, Jeanette. But at this time of year I enter a phase of self-soothing denial. Friends know that in my world, August has 61 days; in fact Labor Day is on Aug 36th this year : ) Check your calendar – it might be true for you, too!

Summer is too short. It comes and goes in a bloom of light and color, warmth and fragrance, and then disappears. I am really not an ‘outdoor’ person. I have often said “I love the great out-of-doors… from the great in- of-doors.” Realizing this about myself, I try hard to pay attention to outdoors things during the summer: “Don’t let me miss this,Lord!” is a daily prayer. I try to do a better job of seeing the fully leafed out trees;to notice the variety of what’s blooming, particularly the wild flowers. I want to hear the birds’ amazingly loud morning songs, and smell the heat of temps in the 90’s.I keep track of the daylight hours like some mistress of a storehouse: “Let’s see, sunrise at 5:30am;sunset at 8:55pm. That means there will be 925 minutes of daylight. Good! I won’t run out today.”

This awareness of summer’s brief visit is what makes me extend the season by 30 days. It does force some modifications of date books, calendars, appointments etc, but this is a small challenge, and the benefits of having the joys of summer last an additional month are worth it to me.

How about you? Is there a time of year that you love so much that you would do just about anything to extend the time?