Dog Days Are Over

It isn't often I do a twofer on this blog -- but I think this counts -- even if the Florence songs are marking days that have unmarked days in between.

Especially since Florence has been singing this song in my ear for days now:

The dog days are over
The dog days are done...

...ever since the chill came into the air, the leaves started to turn and fall off the trees. And I, for one, couldn't be happier that the dog days of summer are over. This, coming from someone whose favorite season has been summer as long as I can remember. Not this year.

Today my son and I climbed a tree together, and I told him as we sat aloft that I thought I was ready to officially change my favorite season from Summer to Fall. "I like Spring the best," he said. It still feels hot in the Fall." Uh-huh. And this girl loves her some warmth.

I feel like I should wait until next year to see if the feeling sticks, because part of me thinks that the reason I lost that lovin' feeling for Summer was because I had such a shitty summer this year.

Nah -- it's more than that. In the summer, while I enjoyed riding my bike along the lakeshore path to work, it tended to be hot and buggy. This morning it was so crisp and so perfect that it made me feel like all is right with the world:

Happiness, hit her like a train on a track
Coming towards her, stuck still no turning back
She hid around corners and she hid under beds
She killed it with kisses and from it she fled
With every bubble she sank with a drink
And washed it away, down the kitchen sink

The dog days are over
The dog days are done
The horses are coming
So you better run

Run fast for your mother and fast for your father
Run for your children for your sisters and brothers
Leave all your love and your longing behind you
Can't carry it with you if you want to survive

Gotta correct you a bit on that last verse though, Florence. I agree with you on leaving your longing behind you -- it is indeed very difficult to survive when longing is the focus of your existence -- but this Autumn-lover says keep the love and carry it with you everywhere you go...