I’m starting to feel like a girl who is waiting on her date to show.

When is fall going to arrive?

I have been ready since late August.

I’ve put away my summer decorations and have pulled out my gourds and autumn colored leaves.

I’ve even climbed up in the attic to retrieve the front door swags I use this time of year, and I brought out my straw people and pumpkin-spiced candles.

Aside from fluffing up the front door décor, it didn’t take me long to get my house decked out for fall since my collections are not nearly as prolific as my Christmas trimmings.

So here I am all decorated for the cooler season, and it just won’t arrive.

This past week temperatures hovered close to 100 degrees, and no doubt with the heat index, it reached triple digits.

So, like a girl all decked-out and no place to go, I wait like everyone else.

I have wondered how the garden centers were managing with the heat.

There is nothing that signals fall more than rows and rows of chrysanthemums, and it appears shipments of colorful mums have arrived.

I’ve refrained from buying any afraid the heat would do them in, but last weekend hubby surprised me with a large planter of the yellow variety.

I love it any time he brings me flowers, but if the truth be told, I’m worried he may have jumped the gun with his gift, and their time here will be short.

Nevertheless, in an attempt to keep them alive as long as possible, I have placed them under a tree so they won’t broil.

The only problem is that with the heat and no rain, the leaves are falling from the crepe myrtle at such a rapid pace that before long it won’t serve as a protectorate.

With this lingering heat, I’ve also been curious about my feathered friends.

There have been several posts on Facebook of hummingbirds swarming feeders readying for their migration.

But with fall taking its sweet time in coming, does this mean these little creatures will get to hang out here in Vicksburg a bit longer?

That would be great since I just bought a second feeder.

Seasons in Mississippi are never predictable.

I mean it was just this past April we were all wondering if summer would arrive.

Don’t you remember how the cool temperatures lasted longer than normal?

I remember even making comments about the summer’s tardiness, and now here I am wondering if it will ever end.

But it will.

One morning I’ll wake up to a nip in the air and know I wasn’t stood up.

 

Terri Cowart Frazier is a staff writer for The Vicksburg Post. She can be reached at terri.frazier@vicksburgpost.com.