This week on the Blog Hop, we’re talking about Labor Day. To me, it’s always marked the end of summer.
As a kid, school never started until after Labor Day. Although I liked school, it always seemed like summer wasn’t long enough. There were still hills to climb and bikes to ride and nights to spend sitting on the front porch listening to the whippoorwill calling down in the valley and watching the fireflies flash among the willow trees. I feel bad for today’s youth, who start school in the middle of August. It feels like they are getting cheated.
As an adult, I no longer have the free time to spend my summers in pursuit of wild huckleberries or trying to track down the ends of elusive summer rainbows. I have duties and responsibilities and a paycheck to earn, by gum. I must prove that I’m a productive member of society. When I manage to slip away to the mountains on a weekend, no one needs to know that I spent time watching the clouds form pictures while pretending to try to catch a fish.
In the mountains, Fall comes early. Much earlier than the official date of September 22nd. In fact, I’d have to say it has already arrived. There’s been snow in the mountains and we’ve had to turn on the heater several nights. We’re taking bets on when the first snow will fall where we will live. I’ve seen in snow as early as mid-September.
So it’s fair to say that Labor Day really does mark the end of summer. The leaves on the trees are already starting to show a change in color. It’s time to pack away the shorts and throw another blanket on the bed. The extra day off work will be used to cut the grass one more time and do housework that was neglected all summer long.
What does Labor Day mean to you? You can share your thoughts in the comments. And if you click on the links below, you can find out what other authors think.
Sept. 5 – Labor Day – What does it mean to you or how do you celebrate?
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I feel you're end of summer pain. It's much the same for us here, though hopefully we won't see snow for several more weeks (hopefully months) the weather is turning and we've entered the hot as blazes one day, cold as winter the next phase of life here.
It's still quite hot here in the UK. The children went back to school today, it's the start of the autumn term.
Our kids are cheated. Here in Alaska, they end school in mid-May, when it's still too cold outside to do anything really enjoyable. Then they start school in mid-August, so they miss a month's worth of decent weather. My son started school two weeks ago with all the enthusiasm of a coma patient.
We always were off school from Memorial Day to Labor Day (more or less). That felt about right. Usually the rains kicked up the last couple of weeks of August and the leaves would start changing, so it felt like a good time to go inside.
It's actually been an odd summer here. The warm weather started a month early. When it hasn't been raining (which it has ALOT), it's been really warm. Then the rainy season held off for two weeks. I deepened my tan Saturday and yesterday. But there's something about today's rain … there's a feeling to it that says the good weather is past and we'd better clean the woodstove chimney. If we're lucky, it will hold off on snow until Halloween. It's never gone longer than that.
We're having more rain than normal for this time of year, and they are predicting a colder than normal winter. The weather is just weird anymore!