Whoever decided the last third of summer will overlap with the resumption of school and work was very wise.  Why roust us from summer bliss while there’s still a month of sun for play?

Because we need to ease back into the rhythm of reality, be it the school calendar, the end of Q3 in the fiscal year, or the harvest of the entire year’s work.  For some it’s the beginning of a fresh and exciting chapter and for others, sadly, it’s the first step toward winter.

While few had the entire summer off, the rest of us downshifted a little by slipping out of work early on Friday afternoons, savoring the extended twilight, or getting away for a week or two.  I still marvel at the absence of rush hour traffic on a late August Friday. It is part of summer’s magic, after all.

But now with Labor Day just a week away, it’s time to get into a higher gear and ease back to reality.  For a winegrower, it’s also the last month with fingers crossed before the harvest season begins; of letting the ripening grapes hang a little longer for more flavor and aroma in the wine that follows; and savoring the blue sky and warm breeze that blesses Hunterdon County on so many of these late summer days.