Of Pattypan and Late Summer

I do declare: pattypan squash just may be the most adorable squash in existence.  Its name is definitely the most fun to pronounce out loud (say it with me — happiness will follow!): pattypan, pattypan, pattypan!  We had some today for lunch, sauteed with white beans, heirloom tomatoes, garlic, basil, parsley, salt, and pepper.  I do love it when both Matt and I are working from home — we cook and eat our biggest meal mid-day, and it really suits us.

Summer is easing toward fall.  Slowly, tentatively, the heat of midsummer has started to subside.  The light is changing — have you noticed it, too?  Each year, something within me senses the shift before my mind fully registers that it has begun: a subtle downshift in mood from the buoyancy of high summer, a slight lag of the internal clock.

Annually, surprisingly, the reason for these internal changes does not occur to me until the inevitable late August night when I glance out the window and note with a jolt that the twilight view that had greeted me at 9 PM in June now arrives almost an hour earlier.

In just a month, autumn will officially be here.  Enjoy those last trips to the pool and the beach, everyone!  And, if back-to-school shopping is in your future, relish that, too.  I still get a little giddy at the prospect of buying new pencils and notebooks, markers and folders.  The hunt for school supplies is a pleasure I will never outgrow!