Late-summer musings

Horseshoe crab heading for the water. The very, very ancient creatures are not true crabs.

Horseshoe crab dorsal anatomy.

Adapted from Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com

Shoreline walkers would do well to read famed nature writer Rachel Carson’s (1907-1964) beautiful (poetic in some places) and animal-and-plant-and-geology-and-weather-packed 1955 classic The Edge of the Sea. (There were a lot more horseshoe crabs back then, and not much plastic on beaches, but also more oil on the shore from ships, before the EPA. As kids, we loved to find sea glass.)

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It’s too bad that college students must go back to school so early these days. Late August and early September have the best weather of the year around here. In my time, many of us didn’t have to go back until mid-September. Among other things this gave us more time to make money on summer jobs. (May and early June weather not so good for such work.)

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It’s old people who most sense summer (and all other time) seeming to go faster every year, even as summer is getting longer climate-wise. And we’re excessively looking forward, or fearing,  the next season. Too bad this can distract us from the pleasures of the moment, especially in person (not on a screen), in a constantly changing nature, such as seeing the Asters, which have several vivid colors, Black-Eyed Susans, and the purple-blue of Chicory on the roadsides.

Enjoy the sweet corn from local farms and the softer sunshine. And those noisy cicadas have a delicious nut-like taste!

Deep-fried cicadas. Better than popcorn!