I feel it in the air...

I drove up the road today, around the corner from me. A street lined by sycamore trees. They are always the first leaves to start turning and falling. Prematurely so, but the street is already bespeckled with fall color and dried leaves were blowing across the road.

I was on my way to Little One's preschool for the annual Big Clean. Scrubbing pirate ships and castles, dress up shoes and plastic food. They are almost ready for kids to start clamoring in the door.

The air conditioning is still on, and the days are still steamy and humid, but the nights are becoming crisp and cool. We've been opening up the windows and enjoying the night air.

It makes the pool water cold. Another of the first signs that it is truly the end of summer. The mesmorizing spell that the pool holds over us is broken by the chilly water, which never has long enough to warm up after a night in the 50s. It's easier for us to leave it for the next 9 long months when our final memories are of shivering and turning blue.

And although we still have another week before school starts, many of the neighborhood kids start on Monday. Postcards went out last week telling who their teachers will be. It seems that everywhere we go, we hear kids and parents asking, "Who'd you get?"

The buses will be rolling past our house Monday morning, and while we will still be lazing around in pajamas, the days left are short in number. The Halloween catalogs have arrived. Fall sports registration is this week. I went into Bath and Body Works this afternoon to pick up something on sale, and I couldn't resist walking out with a nutmeg scented candle.

For another week or so, I still want the smell of Coppertone and chlorine in my nose, but after that, it's time to move on to smells of leaves and newly sharpened pencils... and just around the corner, apple cider and pumpkin muffins.