Friday Five: Seasons Change

It's Labor Day weekend here in the United States, also known as Summer's Last Hurrah. So let's say goodbye to summer and hello to the autumn. (People in other climes, feel free to adapt as needed.)

1. Share a highlight from this summer. (If you please, don't just say "our vacation to the Canadian Rockies." Give us a little detail or image. Help us live vicariously through you!) I had a really great summer, so it's hard to find just one highlight. But, I'll mention our vacation in Watercolor Florida, riding bikes everywhere we went. Here's a picture

We loved riding bikes around so much that we bought new bikes when we got home and now I ride my bike to work about 3 or 4 days a week.

2. Are you glad to see this summer end? Why or why not? Yes because I miss all the various choirs and musical ensembles that only meet during the school year. I have to admit that it's nice to have a break from all the evening rehearsals during the summer, but I'm ready to give up my Monday, Wednesday and Thursday nights again. Now, If I can just convince the ABC to air the new shows of Grey's Anatomy during the summer and reruns during the school year, I'd be a happy gal :)

3. Name one or two things you're looking forward to this fall. I look forward to playing for chancel choir and directing our handbell choir, Evensong. I also look forward to the completion of the application portion of my thesis. Though the intense 3 months of writing that will follow I'm not looking forward to.

4. Do you have any special preparations or activities to mark the transition from one season to another? (Cleaning of house, putting away summer clothes, one last trip to the beach) In a normal year, the end of summer is usually celebrated by attending Bloys Campmeeting down in Ft. Davis, TX. This is an old cowboy campmeeting, that began in 1890 by Rev. Bloys, a traveling Presbyterian preacher. He would travel from ranch to ranch to minister to those many ranchers who could not come to church on a regular basis. If you know anything about West Texas ranching, you know those ranches are HUGH, and back in the 1890s traveling to go to church was a long ordeal. So, they decided that one week a year all the ranch families would get together for a revival. Well, jump ahead nearly 120 years and that campmeeting is still going. There are about 4000 - 5000 people who go, mostly descended from those original 10 ranching families. Church meets 4 times a day with Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and Disciples ministers rotating the services. I've been going since 1990 when my mom was hired to be the pianist. Now, my dad is also the song leader, but the past couple of years he and I have been sharing the job. I just couldn't go this year because of the thesis, so I'm having a bit of trouble adjusting to the fact that fall is here. It's like going one December without Christmas! Seriously!

5. I'll know that fall is really here when __________________________________. When you can smell it in the air and you stop wearing sleeveless shirts. There's nothing quite like that fall crisp smell to the air. I don't know what it is, but every season has its own smell, and I just love the smell of autumn.

Image is The Four Seasons I by Pham An Hai (More info here)