I feel like, for the first time ever, I am really tasting the magic of an in-season cantaloupe.
Sweet. Juicy. Impossibly delicious.
Gone are the years of buying those plastic fruit containers from Whole Foods and eating the pale, sad-looking cubes because it felt wasteful not to. Turns out, the problem wasn’t cantaloupe. It was timing.
Even as the wheel turns and so many things are nudging us toward fall, I’m finding myself wanting to hold onto summer’s sweetness just a little while longer.
Last week a student asked me when we’d be announcing the fall schedule. Meanwhile, Matt and I are in the middle of our annual teacher meetings, talking through September and beyond. I also learned that August 13th was the last day this year the sun would set after 8 p.m. From here on out, the daylight quietly begins its retreat.
Suddenly, everything around me seems to be asking me to look ahead.
And yet…the tomatoes are still overflowing. The peaches are still perfect. The sun is still hot enough that walking Frankie in the afternoon feels like a questionable decision. Summer, despite what the world is trying to tell me, is still very much here.
I’ve been thinking about this funny in-between feeling, and it reminded me that in Traditional Chinese Medicine there is actually a fifth season called late summer. It only lasts about a month, quietly bridging summer and fall. It’s associated with the Earth element and, unlike the exuberance of early summer, it’s less about blooming and more about harvesting.
You can feel it at the farmers market. Tomatoes stacked higher than seems reasonable. Peaches that perfume the entire stand. Basil spilling out of baskets. Melons so heavy you wonder if you really needed to buy two. (Yes, you do.)
Last weekend I found myself leaving with bags far heavier than I intended. Somewhere between the tomatoes and the basil, I turned into a vegetable hoarder, convinced I needed every last bit of August.
Maybe because somewhere inside I know it won’t last.
I think that’s what I love most about late summer. It doesn’t seem all that interested in what’s next. It just asks us to gather, to nourish ourselves, and to digest what’s been growing—not just in our gardens, but in our lives.
Maybe that’s the question this season asks.
Can you actually taste what is good while it is here?
August has this funny habit of making us mourn summer before it’s even over. Our minds drift toward September. Work. School. Routines. Calendars. Before we know it, we’re already living in what’s next while what’s now is still quietly offering itself to us.
But late summer seems to whisper something else.
Stay here for another minute.
Feel the warmth on your skin.
Notice the basil on your kitchen counter.
Let yourself be nourished by what is still abundant.
The tomatoes are still heavy on the vine. The evenings are still warm. The fruit is still sweet.
There’s still time.
Taste the sweetness and move with love.
Xoxo,
Holly
INSPIRATION STATION
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