Summer's Over

Another Labor Day weekend has come to pass, and that means, for all intents and purposes, that summer is now over for another year.

To tell the truth, it was a bit overcast and, if anything, seemed to feel almost like a fall day today. But still, this was the last day that the lifeguards were on duty at the beaches. The last day that people will flock to the Jersey Shore or the beaches at Long Island with the intent of swimming. The end of the barbecue season, and I am sorry to say that I did not get to the one that I was supposed to have attended just yesterday.

Now, it's Tuesday, and people will be flocking back to the highways in the morning. Most likely, they will be congested, and the going will be slow, although the stress will not be so slow to arise.

Vacations are over. Families have returned home. it is back to school time, and that includes for my own son, who is entering the first grade. I feel a bit old in saying this, but he really has grown up fast. Unfortunately, he also did not complete his homework packet yet for this summer, and will have to try and catch up a bit tomorrow (his first day back officially is this Wednesday).

Football season is about to start on Wednesday evening, when the Cowboys visit the defending Super Bowl Champion Giants, my favorite team.

Tennis will be wrapping up the Grand Slam season with the US Open, already in it's second week and heading towards the finale this upcoming weekend. Andy Roddick's retirement tour keeps getting prolonged, since he keeps on winning, and it is a bit reminiscent of the end of the careers for both Jimmy Connors and Andre Agassi, although those two men seem antagonistic towards one another.

Baseball will be wrapping up soon, as the playoffs and, eventually, the World Series near. I have no idea who looks really good, and who are the favorites to take the pennants. Sorry, baseball fans, but I cannot honestly claim to be ranked among your numbers.

Hockey and basketball will both be starting up soon. Soccer (it is known as football almost everywhere else, in case you did not know) has started up again in Europe, and has been well under way here professionally since the spring, when the season started for the MLS.

It will be the end of summer blockbusters, and the biggest names for fresh, upcoming movies.

Election season is in full swing, and this year, it's a Presidential race, so the stakes are as high as they can get. That means weeks more of political advertising, with the emphasis on character assassination of one's opponents. Of course, that will not be much different from the summer, but it will be extra persistent and intense, as the election draws ever nearer.

Most of all, the end of summer means the autumn is ushered in. It will still be warm, if not hot, for a while. But cooler times are ahead of us now, as are shorter days. The days are already considerably shorter than they were a few weeks ago, and soon, the nights are going to start to feel cool, and then, eventually, cold. The days will remain warm, and eventually, grow cool and crisp later in the fall.

The colors have already begun to change in some isolated patches, but these are the exception, not the rule. But soon enough, the colors will display themselves in all of their brilliance.

Yes, the summer is coming to a close. Time to put away the beach towels and bathing suits, as well as the suntan lotion. No more firing up the grill. No more getting off early on Friday in order to get a head start and beat the traffic in order to get down to the Jersey Shore. All of that is now history, at least until next Memorial Day Weekend in 2013.

People often find this time of year a bit depressing. School and work begin to get into the full swing of things, and the weather will deteriorate. Soon, it will be the gray of later autumn, and then the cold of the winter. Perhaps it will be a "bad" winter. I have already heard predictions that it will be, although to be honest, I have heard someone or other make virtually identical predictions virtually every year, prior to the actual winter. It has happened on occasion, and yet it has also been wrong as often as it is right. Obviously, last year, those who had predicted a horrible winter were dead wrong.

So, Labor Day is over, and you will be back in the office, or in the classroom, or wherever it is that you happen to work. Back to the grind, as the saying goes.

Let's just get past this upcoming week, and take it from there...