Late Summer

I can tell we're in late summer. I know it is.  I know because of the food people are leaving on the break room table at work (cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and pears).  I can tell because I see the red winged blackbirds and swallows flocking up and getting ready to migrate.  I can tell because the frogs have quit croaking love songs and the crickets are, um, what are crickets talking about?  I don't know but they're super loud. I can tell by watching the monarch butterflies laying eggs on the milkweed plants.  I can tell because the size of the paper wasp nests are larger now.  I can tell by which wild flowers are blooming now.  And I can tell because of my itchy eyes and itchy ears.  Every fall the pollen from the weeds causes me to itch and squirm and scratch.  I rub my eyes.  I wiggle my ears because the feeling inside my ear canal is unbearable at times.  The skin on my ears starts to separate and peel off.  When I was a child I had this problem.  The doc gave me a salve for it.  (I hate that word salve!)  I was told that I couldn't go swimming because if I got my ears wet they would grow large like elephant ears.  I swallowed that tale and truly believed it for many years.  Over the years I have become a little less gullible but I continue with the itchy ears despite daily allergy pills.  My only complaint is that I haven't had enough fun yet for it to be late summer.  I have some great adventures planned for next week.  I plan to have so much fun that I am able to ignore the allergies.