The garden's progress: mid-August

When August begins the days grow shorter; now it's getting dark by 8 p.m. There is also the smell of August in the air, it's something I've noticed since I was a child; that smell of August coincided with shorter days and told me that summer didn't have long to last and then it was back to dreaded school in a few weeks and the end of my freedom. Now, the insects are singing at night, I hear them before bed around 11:30 p.m. and again at 5 a.m. I used to think fireflies were finished their business by mid-July but this year I saw them at the beginning of August; they say it was a hotter than usual summer but it seemed an average summer for heat except for the fireflies. Now we are on the downward slide to fall.

The garden's progress on July 3

Every evening, around 9 p.m., I go outside for a few minutes to see the fireflies, they won't be here for long. There seem to be more fireflies this year than last year or the year before. The first evening I saw fireflies this year it had been raining and I saw a firefly glowing on and off in the wet grass. I separated the blades of grass and the firefly walked onto my hand and then he was gone, off into the night.