We're always caught off guard. Already, it's mid-month, September. Hard to believe the summer of 2011 has been and is now slipping away. It's gradual enough perhaps, but it always takes us unaware. And unhappy about the change in season. But Nature's seasonal changes are immutable and they occur with the kind of regularity we must expect, though we rarely do.

The last of the late-summer perennials are in bloom, and they will be around for a little while yet, adding colour to the gardens. Cooler nights have arrived, and with them the sounds of birds winging south. The sound of tiny warblers calling out to one another as they flee south, leaving the coming cold to us non-winged creatures rings on through the night-time hours. Geese in their unerring formations call down to us, sad farewells.

And we are sad. Sad that yet another season of languorous beauty and outdoor recreation, along with relief from sheltering from cold-weather conditions are now passed for yet another year. I imagine we should be thankful that we have these quite defined four atmospheric,environmental seasons to appreciate and contend with. Life is never boring in that regard.

Yet murmuring a regretful farewell to another summer makes us wistful, no doubt about that.