All the traditional August signatures have been met, now that we're in the second week of the penultimate month of summer. We discovered when our children were young that August, for our purposes, wasn't a particularly good month to choose for summer vacation. Not that weather conditions of any month are particularly dependable, but August seemed to us to be the summer month more inclined to veer off in all directions than any other.

A typical August in our experience is just what this month has shaped up to be. Sun, rain, cooler temperatures, wind, and alternately high humidity and heat. Often following directly one on the other. We do enjoy cooler nights and that's appreciated. But we also are exposed to deceptive conditions; full sun exposure, and then suddenly the sun slips behind clouds that seem to have gathered in the blink of an eye, and down comes rain.

And the strangest of phenomena, that while it's raining the sun will come back out even while the rain continues uninterrupted. Any kind of confused weather condition seems to erupt at any time, in this month. Reminding us, in nature's inimitable way, that nothing is permanent, nothing is predictable and guess what? even while it's yet summer, autumn is panting with anticipation just around the corner.

We see that now in the forest, where random foliage has turned yellow or shades of pink, and tears itself away from its host to swirl down to the forest floor. There are more of these every day. But it's much, much too early for foliage to lose their green when tree sap slips down to its roots as the deciduous trees prepare themselves for the long, cold winter.

In the garden too, evidence is there that summer is slowly winding down, irrespective of temperature, of sun, of rain and wind. Plants have overgrown themselves, crowding one another, some drying up and others known to be fall bloomers are strutting their stuff. Jackie and Jillie are, of course, oblivious just as we are sensitive to the changes. They just adjust themselves to whatever the prevailing conditions happen to be, and that's fairly sensible.

Because we got caught out in a thunderstorm on Friday while hiking through the trails, we decided to wear raincoats and tucked those of our puppies in our pockets when we set out yesterday for our hike. It was as cool yesterday and windy as the day before had been hot and breezy. For most of our ramble through the forest trails there was sun overhead, beaming its rays through the forest canopy. And then the interior of the forest took on a darker hue, and we felt the first raindrops.

It wasn't a heavy rain and the leafy canopy kept us fairly dry -- and we were, after all, wearing rainjackets. We took our time, and unlike the day before without rainjackets in the thunderstorm, we had no need to shelter ourselves under large old trees. Once again we watched as the vegetation became shiny-slick with rain. The two little raincoats we put on Jackie and Jillie were doing a fine job of keeping them dry.

When we completed our usual circuit to exit the ravine up the last hill, we were mildly surprised, as usual, to see how much rain had fallen, evident out on the street, the pavement dark and glistening, with accumulated rain puddles here and there. Good for the garden is always the thought that races through my head.

And the garden, when we reached home, certainly looked as though it was in full agreement. The garden gargoyle, one of a pair we have seated on the balustrade surrounding the porch looked as though it had a satisfied smirk on its face. One of them faces us, the other faces in an opposite direction, but one can assume that what pleased one was pleasing to the other.