Earl often said the days are getting longer just after Christmas. He would peer out his kitchen window and observe the lengthening of the sunlight each evening. I could not discern a difference from one day to the next, but Earl could. So I do notice the days getting shorter. I love short days and long nights. The campfires of Halloween and the Yuletide Parties of the Holidays, with hot chocolate and hot apple cider. Ichabod Crane did not run from the Headless Horseman and get his Pumpkin Head thrown at him on an August night.

Comfort and security calls as the evening lengthens. The day is done, and tomorrow has yet to arrive. The good ones and the not-so-good are in the books for history to judge. The bullfrogs are tuning up for their performance. The little boy walks his dog. School is starting. Jill is over to watch the Cubs with MJ. Thoughts drift to the cookout on Labor Day. Southern Illinois University is tearing down its Greek Row. My first job was to clean Thalman Hall, which is part of Greek Row. In those Halcyon Days of 1978, there were still several Fraternities and Sororities on The Row. In the evenings, the sounds of parties and mirth wafted through the air. I brought the St. Louis Globe Democrat to my foreman, Jim each evening. I would hear the front door open and soon see that the paper was gone and a University Van driving off. I was hired in October, with the chilly evenings, the smell of burning leaves, and plans for the future.

The rest of the year looks busy, MJ said. That is the way of the shorter days. Once September arrives, we know we have to stop fudging around and get done what a good woman and a good man should be doing. We thought we had a year, and here it is almost two-thirds over without warning. We have laid too much upon the table as our legislators do. We said another day as we danced and played our fiddles. What harm can come? We still have four months. The Bullfrog Quartet Leader passes around throat lozenges for the upcoming performance. The little dog peed quick. He and the little boy have returned to the cool confines of the house.

New challenges await, and we have not put the old challenges to bed. Home is where we are safe. Home lives in our bones. Problems come and then they go, but home endures. There will be many little things, but none captures our heart like home.