For days like this.

By all these lovely tokens

September days are here,

With summer's best of weather

And autumn's best of cheer.

-- Helen Hunt Jackson, September

"The sun warms my back instead of beating on my head..."

-- Robert Finch, Common Ground

I'm sure you've all seen it... and felt it. There comes that time in September, where you are out with the dogs, the morning air is cool with a reserved hint of crispness. I close my eyes and take it in. The dogs sense it. They have been patiently waiting through the unrelenting heat of a record breaking summer. For days like this. My dogs regain that frisk in the step of their younger years. And they glance back at me, at the other end of the leash, as if to say "Let us walk awhile longer." I am happy to oblige.