August Morning

We've had a bit of a break from the Georgia heat, lately. Yesterday, on our walk, Cambrie and I enjoyed a morning that was hovering just around 70 degrees--and that was at 8:30 AM. Here are some of the things I tried valiantly not to think... (I failed)...

I smell fall leaves.
This crispness reminds me of being ten and school starting again.
Maybe this is a sign.
Maybe... fall is coming.

I'm trying really hard to remind myself that this weather is fleeting and it is actually mid-August. *sigh* Just a few more months. I'll hang in there.

After we took Patrick to work again this morning, Cambrie and I hopped over to the park to enjoy the morning beauty. Note to self: 8:45 AM is the best time to visit the park. It was empty for a good half-hour. Cambrie had plenty of time to enjoy herself without eight-year-olds hurtling by in a breakneck game of tag.

Isn't it wonderful! It looks more like a magical kingdom when it's
empty and open and back-lit by the morning sun. Not that my
two year old appreciates that sentiment quite yet.

I've really got to learn to stop asking her to smile; it's apparently too painful.

Where to next?

She loves to swing. I can understand why. There's something about feeling your stomach drop, feeling the air rushing past your face, feeling the steady rhythm of back and forth.

She still likes the little kid swings because she can go much higher in those.

Early morning shadows.

I love mornings like these. I always have. When I was a child I loved to go sit in a tree or lay down on the trampoline to enjoy mornings like this. When I got older I would sit on the front porch of my university's Main Hall and read or write until it got too warm. I can't do things like that anymore, but watching this little person is still a great way to spend these cool morning hours.

When we got home, I felt no desire to be productive. Since I still had a nagging voice in my head warning that the good weather probably wouldn't last, I took Cambrie outside again.

Yes, she's sitting in a little sand pile.

Yes, she's basically bathing herself in this sand. Do I get
"good mom"points or "bad mom" points for letting her do this?

Watching her outside reminded me of almost a year ago. Look at that baby.

This was October 2010.

In that picture I was attempting to capture her first, tiny, invisible ponytail. (Just take my word for it--it's there.) She loved playing in that little "rock patch" then, too, but at the time her favorite thing to do there was eat rocks. Now she bathes in sand. *Shrug.* I guess my hobbies change from time to time, too.

I'm so excited by these fresh, bright mornings. I am refreshed, revitalized. I feel ready to face more 7 AM and 85 degree 90% humidity mornings, because each hot and humid day that passes is one tick mark closer to shorter days and changing leaves. Look out, autumn, here I come.