Nice

Inhaling cool air at last, I sit in darkness and watch the dim shapes of clouds drift across starless sky. There is no desire for anything else. All night, Sluggo sits with monitor dark and hard drive emitting no whir, the television set remains silent, the house is left to the sleeping cat. I am outdoors, ignoring all the world, feeling the chilly breeze blow the last of summer away. However mild the day dawn will bring, this night has given me the first taste of advancing autumn. I am refreshed.

I have only just found out that a final summer revel looms, though; Sunday is Talk Like a Pirate Day. In fact it does not loom west of the International Date Line, where is already underway. Avast, Australia! Too late I discovered (through a Google AdSense link, of course) that this on-line store is having a sale on life-size pirate statues. Not that I could afford one, even at the sale price, but they would make dandy Talk Like a Pirate Day decorations for the idle, spendthrift rich. And, being made of wood and resin, I would imagine they would also make a splendid bonfire to cap the evening's festivities.

Now back out for more fresh air before dawn. It's better than cold beer! Well, almost.

Fallish

At last there has been a mild, partly cloudy day with a pink and blue sunset, fading into a cool evening. This is exactly the sort of day I desire in September. The window fan is off, and I hope that the attic has remained cool enough that its residual heat will not sink into the house. I enjoy listening to the sounds of night without having to go outside, away from the mechanical whirr. A few katydids still chirr, but intermittently, from nearby or further off, as though conversing. It is a relief not to hear the sustained racket of their recent multitudes- nature's obnoxious little car alarms.

I am missing the sound of crickets, though. Thus far, the night has been utterly bereft of their pleasant chirps. It must be too cold for them. Perhaps one or two of them will come into the house and sing for me, once the heater goes on. I do hear the dog who lives at the house on the corner barking now and then, and a car or two passes, every few minutes. But aside from this, early night is blessed serenity, the kids gone in from play, the doors and windows closed on the blare of television sets.

A moment ago, I caught a whiff of pungent wood smoke- not from a summer brush fire, but wafted here from some stove or fireplace that now cheers a chilly room of a nearby house. I have a cup of hot tea. All that is needed to complete the atmosphere of an early autumn night is the aroma of apples or pumpkin being baked into a pie. Mmm, pie. Mmm, autumn.