August ends
... may pass our time in rest and quietness The evenings are shorter, the early mornings cooler; the verdant greenery of High Summer is now faded; the birdsong is quieter; the hedgerows are full of berries; chestnuts are falling. With the last days of August, late Summer begins to draw to a close. It is a time of year I particularly enjoy, its own 'micro-season' when we begin to feel Autumn approach. The loud, brash days of Summer are past. Late Summer is quieter, more modest. It is a time when, for me, the words of the Second Collect at Evening Prayer have a seasonal resonance, reflected in the passage of the year, in the landscape preparing for autumnal days. This occurs as parish life resumes after the Summer break, as schools, colleges, and universities begin a new academic year, as the Summer holidays begin to recede into memory, and the Christmas holidays still feel somewhat distant. All this activity, however, only seems to emphasise the quietness of the landscape in lat...
