Shadows of August

Today’s photo is what one of the ski slopes looks like in summer. Roundtop mows the slopes once or twice each summer with a tractor, but the grass is never really cut too short. I took the photo yesterday morning, which has turned out to be a good thing, as this morning the mountain has disappeared behind an early morning fog bank.

I can see the shadows of August appearing in the landscape around me, though some of what I’m calling "August" is likely just the result of little rain for the past two weeks. The understory in the woods, even the poison ivy, is starting to wither. I’ve seen a few stressed trees with yellow in their leaves as well. Even in my photo you can see the plants in the left foreground sagging a bit. That’s only gotten worse in the last day or so.

On cloudy mornings, like this one, it is almost dark when I start my early morning walks with Dog. It feels to me as though it’s only just gotten light enough to walk without stumbling, and here it is already turning in the other direction. I don’t know why this surprises me, as it happens every year, but for some reason I’m always surprised and never quite ready for the early morning darkness to take hold again.