The air is thick with haze and sneezy things; its heat and moisture are intimate. I recall the heat and moisture of youth.

Evening insects change the guard: fireflies of June and July are replaced by the whirring, metallic frequencies of katydids and cicadas. In September there will be the yellow jackets that want to climb inside my bottle of beer.

Days grow shorter. TV tells me State Fair is here. Some early leaves drift by. How can this be?

I anticipate the autumn color and bracing air. I anticipate the sharp edged shadows of the lower sun in crystal air. I anticipate the quickening pace of events that autumn brings.

I do not anticipate the dreary days that will follow.

Indiana Roadsides, Jean Hughes, Aug 1996.

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), August 10, 2001

Answers

Falling asleep

to katydids

ratcheting

-- (Basho@frog.pond), August 10, 2001.

In Argentina, it is winter in August. Don't you hemisphere-centric gringos ever think of the Southern Hemisphere?

-- (Juanita@Tierra del Fuego.com), August 11, 2001.

And another thing........

IT'S HOT MAN!!!! This weekend was damn near oppressive!

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), August 13, 2001.

Why should we care about the Southern Hemisphere? Nobody really lives there.

-- (blah@bleh.bloh), August 13, 2001.

I have seen no direct evidence that anyone lives in Wyoming.

-- David L (bumpkin@dnet.net), August 14, 2001.

I wonder, in the Southern Hemisphere, are maps upside down? Is south at the top? Are globes upside down? Do kids wonder if North Americans will fall of the earth?

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), August 14, 2001.