I don’t like to skip days—actually, I haven’t missed one since I started this newsletter—but I write light on holidays (for myself, and also for you!)

It’s interesting how you reach that “end of summer” period and bam, the pumpkins are out, the pumpkin spice drinks are out, the Halloween candy is out—even, in some stores, the Christmas stuff is out! It’s still beach weather in much of the country, and will be for possibly another month, but the commercial machine keeps churning away.

I wrote in a college paper once, for one of my environmental classes I think, that it’s striking how some of the last truly seasonal products are not natural ones but manufactured ones: eggnog, pumpkin spice, Halloween candy. We’ve stopped marking the seasons with their natural products, for the most part, and now mark them with things made in a factory or a plant.

I’m not saying anything new by bemoaning artificial Christmas trees at the box store in late August, but still. It isn’t just that it commercializes everything; for better or worse that’s modern life. It’s more the feeling that it’s always pulling you ahead in time—Valentine’s Day before the 12 days of Christmas have run out; beach season in April or May; Halloween at the peak of summer; Christmas for a third of the entire year.

You’re never allowed, in other words, to be in the moment that is actually taking place. Maybe this creates a kind of constant low-level uneasiness and discontent; maybe it’s trivial and a case of thinking too much. What do you think?

Anyway, enjoy your holiday, enjoy the last of the summer weather (and, if you must, some early Christmas shopping!), and keep on reading. You support this newsletter—since late March of this year, total subscribers have doubled! That’s incredible. Thank you. Happy Labor Day!

Related Reading:

The Spider Skeleton

The Rhythm of the Seasons

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