This piece is not meant to be grammatically perfect with just the most precise choice of words and punctuation, but rather just some odd, random thoughts that ran through my mind about a week ago on my usual walk with the dog...please read it as such.

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The day was a special gift, after a week of steamy, thick-aired days. The sky a clear blue, the sun warm, the breeze dry. What I noticed on that breeze was an ever-so-slight hint of change...a tinge of coolness; the briefest glimpse and scent of the coming season.

On my usual walk, change was evident all about me. My mind instantly focused on the word "adolescence"...somehow it seemed fitting for what I saw and where we were in time...half past summer. The childlike newness was long gone. The chokecherries were a fine example of the see-saw between adolescence and adulthood...some green, some possessing a red-cheeked blush, and others, the full, satiny black sheen of ripeness.

The white yarrow of only a week ago was now brown and crispy. The last of the lavender Blue Toadflax gone...only tiny pods filled with pepper-fine seeds up and down their brittle brown stems.

Yet all is not dried and gone. The magenta blossom of the cactus-like thistle is brilliant among the green. The speckled orange trumpets of the Jewelweed, or Touch-Me-Nots, peep out from the roadside brush, still in the vibrance of their adolescence. The Nightshade can't make up its mind...still sporting pretty purple blossoms and newly reddened berries!

And so it is half past another summer...I finish yet another chapter in my life...although the change at the end of the next season will be more in sync with my age. I reflect on how my life's chapters have been like the natural wonders before me...some sweet and full like the lush cherries; lovely like the perfume from newly blooming wildflowers. Others, like the clusters of grapes not yet ripened, were hard and sour.

Perhaps I should dog-ear those sweet pages in my mind to go back to on the days of bitter grapes. Although, one could say those sour, unripe grapes are merely portents of sweet things yet to come...


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This post has been edited at member's request.flutterbug,

Lady flutter,

Your musings while walking your dog remind me of my own mental meanderings at times. I don't think you could have expressed them more naturally or "better" any other way. The narrative seemed to follow your progressive thought processes which is the perfect way to express them. This is a lovely mixture of the optimistic anticipation of youth, the recognition of some painful realities of adulthood, and the further acceptance of those things inevitable. It is capped with an apprecition of all the good things from the simplest to the complex. You might get the message that I enjoyed this immensely!

Thank you, Galatea! Glad you enjoyed it. I said I wasn't going to worry about choosing the right words, etc. but the last line caught me up and after a few reads I changed "Then", to "Although", and "be" to "come". Now I am wondering if the last few words, "in their own time" are redundant and should it be left at "...sweet things yet to come..."?

Any input anyone? I'm pretty much set on keeping the rest as is; just the last line bugged me. Thanks.

flutter(with two tees ),

I often take long walks and find myself reflecting on the shifting sands of life. Just like the changing seasons; our lives are a constant cycle of change. All I know, is that with each turn in direction, it has brought me to this place in my life, and It's a pretty good place to be.
I do believe the older we get the more sentimental we become; besides......we have more to be sentimental about! Our youthful days may be gone, but not our youthful ways.

And you're so very right, flutter! The sour grapes are there to remind us how sweet the other grapes are. All we have to do is let the sour ones stay on the vine a little longer and they too might be sweet some day.

This was the perfect read as I enjoy an almost fall-like day in "half past summer".

Thank you flutter for sharing this one! It was so very lovely.

Flutterbug - I loved everything about this - from the analogies to the sentimentality represented - just an thoroughly enjoyable read!!

~Colly

Wow. What a great write. I am speechless.

flutterbug,
I probably should be walking my dog more. However, I have found that taking a camera gives me all the excuse I need for long walks and day trips. If people think that you are a "photographer" you can almost get by with any excursion.
You wrote:
Although, one could say those sour, unripe grapes are merely portents of sweet things yet to come...

To that I would ask how secure you are in your reader's perception? If you expicitly know that your reader will understand then leave off the of sweet things yet to come.... If you aren't sure enough about your reader then leave it as it is. Of course, if you leave it out, you do not say what the portent implies. Just my opinion, I could be wrong.
I thought it was well done and will be understood by all over 30 without any trouble. Well done and thanks.

Flutterbug,

I wish I were more original than to just echo the superlatives above, but alas, I am not.
Suffice it to say I thought this was a wonderful piece.

Wow.

This was beautiful, flutterbug. In the dusty heat of summer, I feel like I've just taken a refreshing walk alongside you.. just what I needed! I find nature inspires and brings out the best we have to offer. You've hit the jackpot with this expressive piece! The nostalgia and clear, crisp imagery blend together to form a wonderful scene.

Beautifully written, FB - thank you for sharing.

Flutter, any time you want to take this old dog on one of your
prose-walks you won’t have to put me on a leash I’ll go willingly.

Jack

Galatea

"You might get the message that I enjoyed this immensely!"

Why, thank you kindly! I'm glad I was able to share what I was feeling on that walk...I don't think the dog was too interested!

La Juliette I am glad you found this piece lovely as that's how my surroundings were to me that day...I have enjoyed the various offerings of nature since I was knee-high...decorating my mud-pies with chokecherries and wildflowers!

Colly WOW! I couldn't ask for any higher praise than that! I guess things turn out well when you write what you know and feel. Thank you so much.

Me from a writer I admire, fine praise indeed! I am glad you enjoyed this one.

Nick Thank you for stopping by to read and comment. I think the reason I wrote that line as I did, was to clearly distinguish between considering those hard sour grapes as something negative and instead, seeing the potential in them. Even in life those sour bitter experiences may some day yield a sweeter outcome just from having experienced them; or, having had our share of bitter experiences, maybe sweeter ones are just around the corner.

I do see what you are saying...but it feels incomplete to me leaving it with portent as the final word...I seem to feel the need to include the sweet connotation. That's just my opinion...I could be wrong!

justawful Your "echo" was more than sufficient and much appreciated! Thank you so much.

Sanya "jackpot" "expressive piece" "clear, crisp imagery" "wonderful scene"
"beautifully written" I am so grateful for
your lovely words of appreciation. Sincerest thanks.

Jack I wish you lived closer..I'd be honored to go on a real walk with you...I have a feeling you'd appreciate the scenery and my ramblings more than my dog! Thank you for your kind comments, dear friend.

You have some wonderful random thoughts FB. I like the way you tied in the change of seasons with the changes in life. Most of us are so busy rushing through the seasons that we forget to take time to smell the roses.

The seasons tell me life is short, I can’t believe that in a few weeks we will be into the fall with all its colour and brilliance. Do you walk your dog in the fall? I hope so. Perhaps you will have the opportunity the jot down some random thoughts about my favourite time of year. I like random writing...that’s why I liked this piece so much. In spite of our expectations, sometimes the best things that happen in life are random...the things we don’t plan for.

Thanks for sharing,

“ Lionheart
~

Lion, you state:

"Do you walk your dog in the fall? I hope so. Perhaps you will have the opportunity the jot down some random thoughts about my favourite time of year."

Autumn is my favorite season, also, and I certainly hope to take many walks (if I'm lucky, Lady Muse will come along with me!)

Thank you so much for your kind comments~~FB

I keep returning to read this every once in a while. Now that the fall colors ar beginning to make themselves evident I'm struck by how much has changed since mid August. And that was only a bit more than 3 weeks ago.

A truly great write Flutter.

Thank you, ol' dawg! Do you know on my walk with the dog yesterday, (in the pouring rain!) I thought exactly the same thing! And yet, this is only a halfway change...the brilliance of autumn still to come. I was inspired to write another piece, and if I can get it all together and making sense, I may post it.

Thanks, again, to my buddy who was back there at the very, very beginning with support and encouragement! ~~LB

I can't believe it was a whole year ago that I wrote this...so much has gone on in my life since then...some of those green grapes have ripened into new opportunities.
I have taken the liberty of bumping this up as my muse is absent. There are perhaps a few on board who haven't yet read it.

PS If anyone sees my Muse, send her back this way, please. Perhaps she went to Hellenback...probably to renew herself in the waters of Purple Creek!

~~flutter~~

I don't mind the bump dearie, this is such a refreshing read and I'd think of this to "stoop to smell the wildflowers" when away in college.

I truly cannot believe another year has past and I am again bumping up this piece! I am currently away from my home recuperating this week, so I thought I'd take a cyber walk since I couldn't have the real thing. The weather today is as it was in this piece...cool, a tinge of crispness in the air, bright blue, sunny skies.

I feel as if my muse will never return and there are so many things in turmoil in my life at the moment that my mind cannot be still to focus...so I will offer this piece to those who are new and have not read it, and to any who wish to walk through it again...

~~flutter~~

Hi Flutter. I have been working in the shop putting time
in it' place; got tired so I called it quits for the day.

I thought I’d take a trip to the still for a short snort of the
good stuff and by-golly there it was; aged with the sent of
wild flowers just the way I like it. Some how you knew.

Jack

Love, love, love this, Flutter! What an ingenius expression of what we all must feel at times, but so very difficult to put into words. You succeeded. I hear you, I'm there, I got it. "Half Past Another Summer" - a perfect title that captures the feel of this time of year and also a time and place in one's life.

Thanks for bumping this up. I hope you're recovering well.
Take care,
Ramona