Every year I get a little melancholy when September comes. It’s the end of a summer, a time of parting, a change in direction.

At the feeder, a hummingbird guzzles the nectar, but one day soon she will vanish for her long voyage south. ¡Adios, amiga!

This morning I was listening to Dolly. I have been binge-watching the YouTube videos. Dolly was the voice of my childhood, as I rode along with and helped my veterinarian father, who played all the country hits as we drove the backroads between farms. Dolly and Kenny Rogers, and the Oakridge Boys. I didn’t realize all the good things that Dolly did with her life. Oh my gosh, she helped Reba McEntire when the plane went down with her crew. Dolly offered her back-up band to Reba. Is this true or is it a legend? I believe it.  And she helped the Australians after the terrible fires there, and helped with the expenses for developing the Moderna vaccine for Covid. Sad that this is what made her controversial in some circles. All the books that children received from her (including my own grandchildren). Think of the many children who are thrilled each month on the day that they receive their new book…

There’s so much bad in the world these days: I think that’s part of the reason that I am so sad at the loss of someone who focused on kindness.

I’m making cowboy casserole in the crock-pot for our dinner tonight at my home-away-from- home, my childhood home, where my father struggles to stay standing after a stroke five years ago that robbed him of so much. Everyday people, everyday struggles…

As the grey skies outside let loose with another torrent, I weep as I listen to the songs: “Coat of Many Colors,” “Jolene,” “Islands in the Stream,” “Put a Little Love in Your Heart,” (she didn’t write those last two, but she sang them powerfully,) and the one I didn’t know of until after she died, which might be my favorite, “Light of a Clear Blue Morning.” Do you know that one? Look up the lyrics. You might just start weeping too.

Anyway, crying is cathartic, I believe. In some ways, it has been a long, dark night of a summer. I have had a few trials. Who hasn’t? But a new season is coming, and I love the fall.

Peace and love to you!

And safe travels to all hummingbirds.