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Complete this sentence, "I know that my summer is over when ____________"
 
Here’s how I did it:
I know that my summer is over when the grandchildren are back home and back in school and because my son came and picked what he says are about 400 pounds of apples from three apple trees in our yard. So far I have only managed to give away three big bags full of unsorted but often wormy, great tasting apples.
 
So my task for the day could be sorting and managing apples. I’ve been letting myself be diverted from my computer with tasks like that for quite some time. After seven weeks of delightful chaos and a revolving door of visitors we settled down for an entire two weeks to catch our breaths before a driving vacation to Sedona, Arizona.
 
I am so grateful that after being married for 52 years we can still hike the trails that lead to magical sights and adventures. We don’t move very fast but we do get where we’re going — or sometimes decide we’ve gone far enough and stop in some wonderful place. On one hike we had to pick our way across the same stream many times. I’m proud to say that I only fell in once and got just wet enough to cool off comfortably. 
 
On another hike I think I met the pied piper of Sedona. I kept seeing small rocks carefully placed in trees as we made our way up the trail. When we reached a saddle between two large rock formations I saw a man presenting every woman he met with a heart-shaped rock. He gave me one too and told me that I was in a special place that balanced male and female energy between the formations known as Kachina Woman and Warrior. 
 
I watched as a few young Japanese people scrambled up the Warrior rock formation. Then I was surprised to see the same man appear to stroll up this steep formation and settle cross-legged at the top.
 
He made gestures of prayer to the four directions, pulled a Native American style flute from his backpack. Hauntingly lovely music drifted over the scene and mesmerized the scattered hikers. I lost all sense of time.
When he finished and we started down the trail, I carefully placed my heart-shaped rock in just the right tree. 
 
And now summer is over and it’s time for me to refocus my own energy on my project to help lower the divorce rate by introducing as many people as I can to my book, "99 Things Women Wish They Knew Before…Saying "I Do." Will you help?
 
I posted this announcement on Facebook a few weeks ago:
 
Are you searching for the secrets of a satisfying and fulfilling married life? Would you love to know how to survive marital challenges? Does your daughter, sister, niece best friend or daughter-in-law to be need this information? Order you print or ebook and read reviews and excerpts of "99 Things Women Wish They Knew Before…Saying "I Do" at www.laurieweiss.com/ido. 
 
I would appreciate it very much if you would copy and paste just this paragraph and send it on to your friends — either by e-mail or on your Facebook or other sharing page.
 
 If you haven’t read the "99 Things Women Wish They Knew Before…Saying “I Do” reviews and excerpts check out the pages at http://wwww.laurieweiss.com/ido or at http://amzn.to/QAxyjY (That’s the Amazon Kindle link where the book is on sale for a ridiculously low price. Get a copy for yourself or as a gift right now.)