Strange, maybe it’s come on with age, but it seems the time to start mourning the summer came early this year, brought on as it usually is by a cold front and a shift in the wind from the southwest to the northeast.
Then again, the old days, when summer ended in a parade of Volvos laden with bicycles and teary children on Labor Day, are long gone, replaced by a new end of summer — the middle of August. It seems the classic definition of school vacation no longer is true. Colleges get started before September, most public schools, especially those in the south start in mid-August, Â never close their doors.
What has brought on this early termination of summer? I have heard the theory that standardized testing, and the impact it has on teacher salaries and job security makes it compelling for educators to get kids back in school before the lessons of the previous year have faded. Sounds specious to me.
Anyway, as a townie in a vacation land, the good side is the place clears out a little, and left turns become possible again. The downside is sad faces and the unmistakable feeling that the days are growing shorting, the flower garden looking a little tattered, and the pungency of a New England autumn is a little more than a month away.
The wounds of enduring a 100 degree week in NC are still too fresh for us to feel your melancholy just yet. Raleigh/Durham has it’s own sun now, I’m convinced.
I suppose the skiff races will have fewer participants as a result as the summer comes to a close. Nice pic of the skiffs.
Funny, but I would guess there have never been more skiffs racing than there has been last year and this year. I also predict the fleet will spread to Osterville. The Ostervillians are without a strong “bay fleet” with Beetlecats all but extinct, and the recent Rhodes 19 fleet gone with the wind.
I guess that the 100 year anniversary of the CMYC created an upsurge in skiff ownership and use. It would be nice if the Wianno Sr’s made a comeback after the big fire. The skiff however provides a more affordable solution to Osterville to rebuilding a fleet.
My kids have been in school for 3 weeks now. They’re on a “year round” calendar, which is wonderful precisely because it cuts WAY down on the length of summer vacation. In North Carolina, summer is the most miserable time of the year, and is definitely not when you want the kids at home. So they shorten summer vacation to just over a month, but then add 3 week breaks in fall, winter, and spring, when the weather has a chance of actually being nice… and giving more flexibility for scheduling family vacations in the spring.
Summer vacation? Yech… good riddance.