Summer’s End and Autumn’s Start

Summer’s End and Autumn’s Start in 2026.

The mornings are beginning to be cooler. The cucumber vines have wilted, and the last beans have dried up. A few of the trees begin to have shades of yellow or brown. We often get drawn outdoors before sunset to water the few remaining blooming plants and to walk the road between the house and the pond. The line of young crepe myrtles that was still blooming in middle September are now done. We will sit on a pad and marvel at the little forest of elephant ears that keeps on trucking. Morning walks continue on the path around the pond, which is very low but still pretty, into the woods, around the bottom land, across the little foot bridges, and by mounds of rock that line our front entrance road. Though we go opposite ways on the meandering path we briefly discuss the seasonal changes when we pass at a midpoint. It’s obvious that summer is ending and the autumn is taking hold.

The Writer’s Den stays busy. The last words to a children’s book and a set of booklets for young believers continue to be worked during a few hours of most days, but the taking times to smell and see the season changes are a little more frequent. It gives us much needed breaks from daily home maintenance tasks and pounding the keyboards as we write, edit, re-edit, and re-word.

Evening breaks outside are more common, too, because it’s a little cooler, dryer, and clearer than typical summer nights in central North Carolina. Observing times are more frequent as the southern Milky Way around Sagittarius is prominent in the early evenings. It’s a hop, skip, and a jump to get to either of two observing sites. We are making use of them. Even after a few hours back in our bed, it is not uncommon for one to wake the other in the hours before dawn to see Orion rising in the East. The night sky of early Autumn is quite a sight.

None of the seasonal changes alter the burden to create material, primarily for others far-away places. We think about or text with young ones in the Philippines on most days and pray for people in other parts of Asia, whom we serve also. It looks like we will be making more friends to the south, since we now have resources or books in Spanish, too. We sometimes wonder about how God has made us feel at home in places far away. Perhaps it is because their needs have touched our hearts, and our hearts drive our hands on the keyboards as we develop stories, prepare talks, and speak of the wonder of the Creator, who loves us. After all, He commands the changes of the seasons and gives us breath to see another day to observe them.