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The gentle softness of August

Karen Wils photo A soft feather clings to a black-eyed Susan flower.

ESCANABA — It’s the wisp of an owl’s feather in the gentle, warm wind, the cool cushioned-toned carpet of emerald green moss, the untouchable brown velvet on a buck deer’s crown — it is the soothing softness of August!

“Soft” is a short, simple word to describe a month. August is the ultimate stage for the growing season.

The summer sun has crested and now slowly begins to decline. The fields, forests and farms spill over with flora and fauna.

How soft is the pollen-dusted center of a sunflower blossom or the yellow stamen of pumpkin buds?

The bare foot knows “soft,” when it settles down into the silt at the rivers bottom. Fingers can feel the soft of a kitten’s fur or the silk at the end of a cob of corn.

August has so much soft gentleness to offer, you don’t want to miss a moment of it. From the fuzz on the bees in the garden to the brush of Luna moth wings against the window at night, August is soft on us.

It gives us a good reason to be soft and sweet on each other. Hold hands and walk through a meadow of wildflowers. Sip some lemonade on the front porch or deck with your favorite crew. Watch the stars come out at night from the lawn chairs.

The crickets sing their soft, happy, nighttime songs the best in August. A soft wind in the white pine treetops is music to the ears.

August is a lot like the velvet that covers the whitetail deer’s antlers as they are growing. The plush, brown velvet nourishes the growing antler until the rack is full-grown and fat. Then all of a sudden — usually in September — almost overnight, everything changes.

The velvet peels away quickly. The bucks rub and shake it free. The hard polished and pointed antlers remain ready for the rut.

August, too, will peel away quickly. Soon, the hard, cold days of December will be here!

So, while we are at the peak of summer, let’s act like kings and queens and enjoy the royal carpet Mother Nature has laid out before us. Elegant robes dress the August landscape in soft colors. The golden hues of black-eyed Susan’s mingle with the purple of the wild asters.

The rich red of ripening tomatoes and apples and the deep greens of cucumbers and squash make this nourishing month beautiful.

Find a soft chair and sit outside. See how many soft August sights and sounds are out there.

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Karen (Rose) Wils is a lifelong north Escanaba resident. Her folksy columns appear weekly in Lifestyles.

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