I love this poem from Paul Verlaine, Chanson d’automne, in it’s original French version of course.  It goes like this:

Les sanglots longs
Des violons
De l’automne
Blessent mon coeur
D’une langueur
Monotone.

If you’ve been following my work for a while now, you know I love apples!  I love baking and eating them, picking them, and especially photographing them.  So, with autumn rolling in, I decided to treat myself to some apple picking.  All by myself.  It was a beautiful end of summer day, warm and sunny.  I went on a week day to avoid the crowds, so I could stroll leisurely in the orchard.  I decided to use my much neglected Lensbaby for the photos this year, so I could add something different to my “apple portfolio”.  Yes, I have that many apple shots I could have a dedicated apple portfolio!

With back to school came back to work.  This year, I’ve extended my hours and will be working in a second elementary school.  Little did I know that the place would be so nice, small neighborhood school, close-knit community, warm and welcoming.  Apart from the workplace, what captured my imagination are the school’s surroundings. On the first day, I fell in love with that little church overlooking the water, steps away from the parking lot.  I knew I had to take my big camera there as soon as I could.  So, this week I managed to do it.  I had 15 minutes to walk around the place, before hitting the road and going to pick my son from hockey. I had to be focused and efficient.

It’s September… So far it has been warmer in these last days than this summer, so even if our routine has set into it’s comfortable habits, we’re still enjoying bits of summer. Pretending Autumn is not coming soon. Yes, we’re back into our school year routine, that means I’m back to my day job and to my organized self. Lunches, meals and groceries planned. Schedule filled and posted on the fridge. Work projects already lined-up and notebook pages full of ideas. Hockey and volleyball schedules taking what little time left I have. Crazy! But fun!

How did that happen? School starts in a week.  Every year I’m faced with the realization that summer went by and I want to hold on to it as much as I can.  It can’t be real?  Autumn will be here before we even had a summer.  I’m still longing for warm lazy days.

The crappy weather of the last weeks left me with a darn summer cold which turned into a sinus infection.  Summer colds are nasty.  You should be out lounging by the pool in your swimsuit when instead you’re sneezing and coughing wrapped in a blanket.  In August!  What a frustrating thing a summer cold is!