Tomorrow, OnMilwaukee.com will run its latest Social Circle column with our social media likers' and followers' responses to the question, "How do you know summer is over in Milwaukee?" We received lots of feedback, including the poetic and true, "In Walker's Point, the ringing of paleta (ice cream) men gets more distant."
I started thinking about what signifies the end of summer to me, and came up with this list. Chime in with your own signs that autumn is almost here.
1. I feel a twinge of crispness in the air that reminds fall is coming. Hoodies, take note.
2. I give up on weeding my garden. A friend calls this "giving the gardening back to God."
3. I crave new "back to school" shoes, even though I am not taking classes in the fall. Yesterday, I went to Mr. Shoe and tried some on, but did not actually buy anything. I am hoping that quenched my shoe desire, but it probably did not.
4. I buy school supplies for my sons, who start second and fourth grade tomorrow and, like you, I just can't believe it. Didn't I just teach him what a duck says?
5. I sniff the afore mentioned school supplies, particularly the pencils and erasers. (Yeah, I'm a school supply huffer. Better keep the glue sticks away from me.)
6. I find the first leaf or two on the seat of my convertible Eldorado. I still have leaves on the floor mats from last year. I cannot vacuum them because they remind me of the final days of my dad's life, when I drove him around in the car, top down, and he said over and over again, "Thank you. This is so very, very relaxing."
7. I reintroduce myself to my crock pot and start to excite over the sight of bags of dry beans and big fat cans of tomatoes.
8. I start to plan my son's end-of-September birthday. This year he wants a "henna and balloon" party. I am not exactly sure what this is, but I'm determined to figure it out.
9. I shave less frequently. No, I don't go full-on gorilla hippie, but I might start to skip a day here or there.
10. I start to plan my and my kids' Halloween costumes. I have this strange and random desire to go as Tom Selleck this year, but don't hold me to it. I'm also considering Sister Wife.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
