The garden is still giving. The pool is still open. And somewhere underneath the heat, fall is already on its way.
I have done my best by summer. I have floated in the pool and walked Patches in the early morning heat and eaten my weight in blueberries, peaches, and cherries. I’ve sat on the porch watching the fireflies and not complained, not once, about the humidity. I cannot say the same about the heat. But I have shown up. For the long hot days and the late light and the particular feeling of stepping outside at seven in the morning and knowing the air will not cool down again until October.
But somewhere around the last week of July and the first week of August, something in me starts to turn. I feel it the way you feel a change in the weather before it arrives. Not yet. But soon. The light shifts, just slightly, in the late afternoon. The shadows fall a little differently. A tree in my neighbor’s yard is starting to show a little color. And I catch myself thinking about boots and wool throws and the first fire of the season, and I have to pull myself back.
Not yet. We are still here, in summer, and summer deserves its last full month and a proper goodbye.
I know many of you love this month. You love the long, lazy days and the warm evenings and the feeling of time stretching out in every direction. You are not ready to let go. I understand that. And for you, this post is a love letter to the last of it, the final few weeks of bare feet, open windows (if you are lucky), loose schedules, lazy weekends, road trips, and the garden giving you everything it has left to give.
For those of you who, like me, are already shopping for fall candles in your mind, I see you too. We can hold both things at once. We can love what is coming and still honor what is here.
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What I Am Looking Forward To in August
The tomatoes. This is the month they finally arrive in full glory, the heirloom tomatoes at the farmers market that are worth the entire summer of waiting. Fat, misshapen, warm from the sun, in every shade of red, purple, yellow, and green. There is nothing in January that tastes like an August tomato, nothing, and I eat them every way I know how while they are here. Sliced thick with salt and good olive oil. In a salad with burrata and basil. Roasted slowly until they collapse alongside a piece of grilled chicken. And my favorite: tomato sandwiches, with or without bacon. August belongs to the tomato and I am not arguing with it.
The zinnias and the crepe myrtles. The garden in August is not the garden of May. It is wilder, looser, a little tired around the edges but still putting on a show. The zinnias are the stars now, bright and cheerful, which is exactly the kind of flower I need by the end of summer. Thankfully my friends like to share because this year I had no luck with them. The crepe myrtles along the street are in full bloom, pink and white and that deep burgundy that stops me every time I drive past. They are the last great act of the summer garden before everything starts to quiet down.
The last pool days. There is something about knowing the pool season is winding down that makes each afternoon there feel a little more precious. We go and we float and we read and we do absolutely nothing of consequence. On weekends we have lunch and maybe a cocktail and it is perfect. By the end of September the pool will still be open but the atmosphere will be gone for another year. The kids are back at school and our seasonal friends have returned north. I will not miss the heat. But I will miss this, the particular laziness of an August afternoon at the water.
The first cool morning. It will happen, probably in the last week of the month if we are lucky, and I will step outside with my pups and feel it. A crispness that was not there the day before. A hint, just a whisper, that the season is about to turn. That morning is my favorite morning of the entire year. It is the one that tells me fall is coming. And fall, for me, is when the world comes back to life.
On The Blog This Month
The Menopause Saga continues this month. If you have been following along, thank you. If you haven’t started yet, begin with Post Zero and read them in order. This series is the information I wish someone had given me, written with honesty and without apology. Share it with the women in your life.
I am joining several friends this month for seasonal posts: Cindy for the Seasonal Table, Sheri for Sweet Treats for Your Sweet Tooth, Annie for a cookie post, and several other blog friends for a last-minute outdoor food post. There will also be a post or two about fall, yes fall, barn coats, nail polish, cashmere sweaters, and more. And a post or two about the things I am thinking about as I get closer to a birthday I am very much looking forward to. More on that soon.
What I Am Wearing This Month
August is the month I start the slow pivot. Linen dresses and sandals are still in the rotation, but I catch myself reaching for slightly darker colors, a navy instead of white, a deep green instead of pale blue. It is not fall dressing yet, not even close, but my wardrobe knows what is coming even before the weather does. A lightweight cardigan for the overly air-conditioned restaurant. A pair of closed-toe flats that feel a little more September than August. The transition is subtle but it is there. You can see all of my late summer picks on ShopMy.
What To Cook This Month
Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes. This is their month and I am not wasting a single one.
Caprese Salad with Burrata and Heirloom Tomatoes. The simplest and best thing you can make in August. Fat slices of heirloom tomato, creamy burrata, fresh basil, good olive oil, flaky salt, and nothing else. Do not complicate this. The tomatoes are doing all the work.
Roasted Tomato Bisque. For the slightly cooler evenings at the end of the month, or for the air-conditioned afternoons when you want something warm. Slow-roasted tomatoes, a swirl of cream, fresh basil. It is summer and fall in one pot, and it freezes beautifully for the months ahead.
Don’t feel like cooking? Try Marinated Tomatoes or Pickled Tomatoes.
This month I will also be joining Cindy for our Seasonal Table series and Sheri for Sweet Treat for Your Sweet Tooth. Links will be added as each recipe publishes through the month.
What To Read This Month
August reading is about the in-between. One foot still in summer, one foot reaching for what comes next. I want something that takes me somewhere cooler, somewhere with stone walls and sea air and the kind of landscape that makes you want to pull on a jumper and walk until you can’t walk anymore.
The House Between Tides by Sarah Maine. A woman inherits a house on a remote Hebridean island off the coast of Scotland and finds that the house, and its history, are far more complicated than she expected. The landscape is extraordinary, wild and windswept and so far from August in North Carolina that reading it genuinely feels like stepping into another world. If you have ever dreamed about Scotland, this is the book that will make you book the trip.
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson, an oldie but one worth revisiting. A retired English major, recently widowed, finds an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Ali, the shopkeeper in his small Sussex village. What begins over tea and a shared love of literature becomes something richer and more surprising than either of them planned. It is warm and funny and very English.
If you are looking for more books check out My Bookshop on Amazon. My full reading life, the books I return to and the ones that changed me, is in that cornerstone post here.
August is the exhale at the end of summer. The garden has given everything it has. The days are still warm but the grip is loosening, and the year is quietly getting ready to turn.
For those of you who love summer, hold on to these last weeks. Float in the pool one more time. Eat the tomato while it is still warm from the vine. Watch the sunset from the porch and do not look at your phone.
For those of you who, like me, are already listening for the first cool morning, it is coming. I promise.
Tell me in the comments, what is your favorite thing about August? And what are you most looking forward to this fall?
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