The end is coming fast and furious for the swimming pool. I’m now losing about a degree a day, and tonight it was a refreshing 79 degrees. Of course, at this declining rate the term “refreshing” won’t be in use for long. In fact, I’m thinking there’s probably another week to go and that will be about it for the year.

…Especially if this forecast holds true. If we get a low of 62 a week from today it’s all over.

On a clear and warm (though not oppressively so) moonlit night like this the signs of seasonal change are all around. For one thing, it’s quiet – I mean, really quite – the A/Cs are all off in the houses surrounding our backyard.

The patio feels almost (almost but not quite) cool on the feet – a far cry from just weeks ago when even at midnight it was still quite warm, almost hot, to the touch.

It takes a moment or two to get accustomed to the water temperature, but I still plunge in. Funny, in all the years we’ve been out here, I’ve never heard people in their pools late at night, even though three of the four houses adjacent to us have pools. Just me.

I love the reflection of moonlight on the bottom of the pool – bright blue/gray/white shimmering diamonds of light that mesmerize me.

There’s the musky smell of sage in the air, telling me somewhere west of us (and from some clouds I’m seeing, it’s as much to the south as to the west) someone was getting rain.

The breeze blowing tonight is not the hot breeze of a month ago. Not quite cool, more clean than anything else, if you catch my drift.

The seasons are changing, the year is now gliding by at an accelerated pace. It’s so hard to believe it’s already September.