Summer Flies

It is a well-known fact that residents of the Pacific Northwest are prone to Seasonal Affective Disorder, a type of depression induced by low light levels and constant rainfall.  Perhaps less well-known is the fact that teachers in the Pacific Northwest get their version of this a few months early, and it has nothing to do with low light levels and everything to do with the onslaught of the school year.

Summer Flies is my 8th in the 12-shawls-in-2012 challenge.  It's a free pattern, I knit it in Dream in Color Smooshy in the shade "Into the Mystic."  I did somewhat intend it as a melancholy metaphor for my anticipated state of mind upon finishing it.  This state of mind has in fact come to pass as the start of school is imminent and my physical, mental and emotional fortitude for dealing with it is nowhere to be found.  I posed it with the hydrangea bush in the front yard because the yarn is the exact shade of hydrangeas in bloom, but even here I noticed that most of the flowers have faded.  Only two on the whole bush had their original color still.  One was blue, and one was purple.

Here's the purple one.  The yarn has elements of both, just like the bush, which is kind of neat. 

But most of the flowers are this yellowish-green now; not a bad color by any means, but not what you expect from a hydrangea in the summer.  I keep wondering where the summer has gone.  Or even, What Summer?  There were two days when it got well into the 90's, and that's it.  Mostly it's been in the 70's and this morning, it was definitely chilly.

Yesterday was Tertia's back-to-school open house, Steve and Peter are due to get back from their long road trip any minute now, and next week will be the start of teacher training for Cedar Tree.  Please, someone, shoot me now  find a ringer who can do all the back-to-school stuff for me while I go looking for summer?