Summer’s End By Jamie Kirkpatrick

How is this possible? Where did it go? It seems only minutes ago that I was ruing the departure of spring and extolling the virtues of summer. Then it go hot—really hot!—and I began to dream about the next season in line, but it seemed too far away to really occupy much space in my overly crowded mind. But now, suddenly, it’s here; the end of summer. It’s darker earlier, traffic is snarled because schools are back in session, the leaves are falling, and just like that, we’ve turned another seasonal page on the calendars of our lives. Believe me: I know: my 77th birthday is coming later this week But I digress…

I have nothing against summer, but I have to say I’m not sorry to see this one go. Heat and humidity do not pair well in my book. Thank God for Willis Carrier who invented air-conditioning back in 1902. He came from Upstate New York and was a devout Presbyterian who no doubt didn’t want to spend a single day in Hell—it’s much too hot and humid down there. He passed away peacefully in 1950. Thirty-five years later, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. One wonders what took them so long.

Anyway, summer, although not yet officially over, is on its way out. Where does it go? Like our ospreys, I guess summer migrates south because as the tilt of the earth moves the northern hemisphere farther away from the sun, the southern hemisphere reaps the benefit. That’s just the way our planet’s cookie crumbles.

Which brings me to the scary subject of climate change. The nightly news is grim enough these days with everything emanating from Washington, but the stories and scenes of enormous dust clouds, raging floods, fierce forest fires, horrific hurricanes, and extreme drought make me think I’m back in the book of Exodus watching Moses threaten Pharaoh with enough plagues to make him let Moses’ people go. Oh sure, there are those who would deny what is happening and say that this is just another blip in Earth’s history, but a “blip” is probably a few billion years and I’m not so sure we’re likely to survive this one.

I sound grouchy, don’t I? I try not to be, but it’s hard these days. You know things are getting worse and worse when there’s more “news” coverage of Taylor and Travis than there is about climate change or creeping fascism. Now that I think of it, IMHO, fascism isn’t creeping anymore; it’s running amok!

Summer’s end may be only a change of seasons, but if there’s one thing we know, for sure, it’s that the only constant is change. Perhaps to take our minds off all this sturm und drang, some friends of mine started an email discussion about who were the five best Presidents in American history. There was unanimous agreement on Washington, Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt, a bit less on several others: Grant, Truman, Jefferson, and Johnson (Lyndon not Andrew). I proposed Mr. Obama, and when he didn’t get anyone else’s vote, I pouted a bit, then decided to stir the pot by changing the game to the five worst Presidents in our history. Andrew Jackson, Franklin Pearce, Chester A. Arthur, and one of the Harrisons (I’m not sure which one) made the list, along with one other…

So long, summer.

I’ll be right back.

Jamie Kirkpatrick is a writer and photographer who lives on both sides of the Chesapeake Bay. His editorials and reviews have appeared in the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Washington College Alumni Magazine, and American Cowboy Magazine. His most recent novel, “The Tales of Bismuth; Dispatches from Palestine, 1945-1948” explores the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is available on Amazon and in local bookstores. His newest novel, “The People Game,” hits the market in February, 2026. His website is musingjamie.net.