Summer's still here, but it seems to have one foot out the door.

It's still hot during the day, but it cools off at night. It's getting dark earlier - it's not even 8:30 and it's pretty dark out there.

It doesn't feel like fall yet - we haven't had one of those days where the air is crisp and you know summer is over - but we're getting there.

I've enjoyed my summer. I got sunburned more times than is healthy. I went camping (sunburn #2). I wrestled with the half-dead tree. I visited with friends and family. I watched baby rabbits on the lawn. I worked from the patio. I dug out that annoying thorned vine that grows by my compost bin.

I ate ice cream in Old Montreal. I made (and ate) orange-yogurt popsicles. I ate tomatoes still warm from the sun. I BBQed - steak, pork chops, chicken, salmon.

I went to Italian Week on Preston. I canoed on Dows Lake. I went to the Carp Farmer's Market (sunburn #1). I sat in the courtyard at work and read a book in the sun. I figured out how to rid the kitchen of fruit flies (a glass with a little apple cider vinegar and a splash of dish soap). I went to Calypso (sunburn #2). I slept with the fan on and didn't get cold.

School supplies are on sale. (I love school supplies, even though I haven't been in school since 1994).

Soon it will be time to get back into a routine. Boxing's first - I have just over two weeks until the fall session starts. A few weeks later, Sparks will start and I'll be back in my normal routine.

And that's OK.

Some years I don't want fall to start because it doesn't feel like I've had a summer. (2008, I am looking at you.) This year, I'm ready.