Is it still August?
Seems to me this month has been longer than usual. I know they call it the dog days of summer, but I think that just means dogs and people need to nap. A lot.
While on a small shopping spree at Dollar Tree last week, I saw the staff move out the school supplies. I turned and came face to nose with a wall of pumpkin and red truck harvest signs. Then I escaped around the corner and ended up in a fully stocked aisle of Christmas decorations.
No wonder I have no idea what month it is. They say when you’re retired, every day is Saturday. Okay. That was always cleaning day when I grew up. But retailers don’t make it easy to figure out the actual month either.
Given the fact both allergy and wildfire seasons came way too early to Oregon this year, shouldn’t I be carving a pumpkin by now? But nope, more to go.
A huge thank you to the incredible firefighters, pilots, cooks, support crew, mechanics, and law enforcement personnel taking care of the more than 13,000 firefighters on the line in Oregon and Washington, plus across the west and Canada. It’s been another very bad fire season.
And not to be forgotten, hugs and support to the people of Hawaii who seem to be getting ALL the rain. We could help out by using it here on the mainland to put out flames, but Mother Nature is not cooperating with any of us right now.
Which brings me back to August.
This is a transition month from the end of summer to the start of school and then into fall and winter. I tend to get a little melancholy this time of year. Most of it is the allergies wearing me down and the heat and wildfire smoke, but part is the change of seasons.
Then I jerk myself back into perspective and remain grateful that I am not on the fire lines – those folks have to be in amazing physical shape and brave – or bobbing around on an aircraft carrier off the coast of Iran. A salute to all of the above. It helps me realize how good I have it.
Then I remember it’s almost pumpkin everything time!
Which gives me an excuse to stay inside and read books, craft, write, and drink gallons of hot cocoa. Even though I pound down hot chocolate all year long. I don’t need an excuse to do all those things in the summer, but it is cozier in the fall and winter.
Yesterday I checked on the Akawa Butte Fire close to my favorite town of Sisters and it is ninety-nine percent contained. Then a turkey photo popped up. Given my recent book, Tactical Turkeys, imagine my surprise to see the wild turkeys forging back into the burned area to start over. So proud of those feathered fowl. They are tactical.
I’d put myself on a media diet this week to improve my August mental health. But when I checked an online order last night, I saw the news about Dolly Parton. WHAT? NO…
I loved that lady. Before going into a tailspin, I asked myself, “What would Dolly do?”
I purchased her Dream More ebook to find out. After reading the first two pages, it helped. Dolly is a legend who has left a hole in our collective universe. We were so blessed to have her in our lives. And being a smart cookie, she planned her legacy to live on after her. Epic.
While I process her passing, I will strive to embrace the four principles in her book that guide her Dollywood Foundation for the Imagination Library:
“Dream more. Learn more. Care more. Be more.”
How about that for a mission statement for all of us?
I can’t wait to read the rest of her book. She left us instructions.
Because I’ve got my own writing projects kicking my butt all over my office and I need to get back to the fight.
Dolly would.
And the wild turkeys are way ahead of me, leading the charge.
Dolly Strong everybody.
September is almost here.
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