Welcome, August - Sunflower Dreams

And at long last, the month of July comes to an end. Whew! That was a hot one, wasn't it? Thank goodness for August! August is the hand-maiden of autumn, a transition time. It is a month full of pretty things, of amazing and tasty things: tomatoes on the vine, sweet corn with its golden tassels as high as an elephant's eye, sunflowers, the Grange Fair.

Before this month is over, we'll experience a few of the cooler nights that signal the start of fall, which just might be my favorite season of the entire year. There is something about August that makes me wistful for things that have gone before, for the things that come up next. In a college town, it heralds the start of a new semester, football season, a whole new academic year.

This is a picture of a set of sunflowers I get to see on my morning walk, when I head over to Stonerow. The sunflowers stand tall on one side of the garden. A scarecrow, not shown, guards the other end. The flowers seemed sweet and lovely and bright to me, tiny symbolic representatives of the sun. Let's just call this shot Sunflower Dreams.

My soundtrack song is Eric Clapton, with Sunshine of Your Love, which begins with one of the most recognizable guitar riffs of any song, ever.