August Lilies



  It's almost August -- five months to go for 2018.  Summer won't be done for another eight or nine weeks, but we've hit that point of the year when things begin to look tired. Goodness knows, I do. The old dog is still with me but her clock is messed up. She thinks four A.M, is now breakfast time. She keeps barking until I get up.  I'm not sure why her internal alarm is all katty-whompus, but even though I am an early- riser, that's too much early for me.

  The August Lilies are up. They are the strangest looking flowers. No leaves, stalks that appear suddenly as August approaches, growing two to three feet and then blooming with a delicate pink flower on top of those green spindles. These three specimens are all I have left of what used to be a nice thick stand. I don't know what happened to them all. But I also don't know what happened to all the socks that I put in my washing machine never to be seen again. The only explanation that sounds reasonable is that the Universe has a large dump zone, similar to a black hole. All those things that disappear must go into the zone. Socks, keys, needle nosed pliers, a stray ball and peen hammer, my favorite blue ball point pen, the last piece of pie. All these things I've been searching out for years must fall into the hole. Where else would they be?  Add August Lilies to the list.

  In one sense August is kind of an end. The days are becoming incrementally shorter, there's a difference in the light, and once in awhile you get a day, like today, that reminds you that the change of season will come in the not so distant future. A day, or a message on my phone telling me to pre-order the next generation of phone for the holidays. Pre-order for the holidays? What holiday? Labor Day? Nope. THE holidays --the ones in December, the big- gun holidays, Christmas, New Years, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa. Nothing says Happy Holidays like Motorola. Is it a little early, or is it just me?

  In another sense August is a beginning too. A new school year is ready to unfold. I think of all those wet-behind-the ears freshman coming to campus at the back yard university, on the edge of their futures, ready to hold their noses and jump. Into what, they don't know, but it will be different than high school, which is saying something. Some will make it, some won't. Back when I was a college freshman I had a professor who began our first year Biology class discussing statistics. It was a large class about 500 students. Based on the numbers in our class, he called out the percentages of who would leave school before four years had elapsed, how many would end up in Vietnam, how many would become pregnant before their time at Local U was done, how many would graduate, and how many would die before the end of the four years. Ulp! He got our attention anyway.

  It's been a long time since anyone gave me statistics, I didn't end up pregnant or dead, but this time of year I always have an overwhelming urge to purchase school supplies. I love new pens, pencils, and crayons. I am overwhelmed by the smell of construction paper and notebooks. If you see a woman in the school supply aisle with her nose in a three-ring-binder, huffing, keep on walking. Don't engage her. You don't need that kind of trouble. If you leave her alone, she'll go away. I promise.

  We also have football this year. I've been counting down the days. Sure, we've always had football, but the college team was, well, pathetic.  I still watched, but it was hard. My daughter's intended graduated from a real football school. It's up north, the Irish something or another. In any event, while his team was cleaning up, and he was all excited and happy, my team was trying really hard. Give those boys participation medals. But, we now have a new coach which is exciting because he apparently understands the rules. Last year we won more than we'd hoped for.  Did I say I'm counting down the days? Literally. Their first home game is in August. It's not that I think that when my team wins it somehow makes me a better person, or I had a hand in the winning, nothing like that. I can't even say why I like it. It really has nothing to do with me. But puppies have nothing to do with me either and they make me happy. And softball bats. My daughter hasn't played for quite some time now, but I still get the ads in my email. I look at them. I'm not sure what the newest technology is, but inquiring minds want to know.

  Overall I've had a fairly creative year. Typically I write these blogs when I'm not working on a more serious piece and need to get the practice in. Didn't know you were guinea pigs did you? This time though, I've got two pieces out for eventual publication (I hope) and one in the hopper. As of late I'm kind of digging the short story concept. It's not easy. There's a lot you have to do to pack in character development, create tension, and come up with resolution, in a small space.  I kind of like the challenge. Depending on the publication, I might only be allowed 3000 words to make my point. Anyone who knows me well or has received a voice mail from me, knows 3000 words isn't nearly enough space.  To have to go back and delete parts from something that feels like I gave birth to it, can be traumatic. But I am soldiering through. It makes me appreciate the poets in my acquaintance who are constantly figuring out how they can say what they want to say in as few words as possible.

  So we'll see. We'll see what August brings this year. Maybe this fall if I can't find my lilies I'll plant more.

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