Last week a friend spoke up (in the middle of a 96-degree day) and said, “Summer is almost over.”

It is difficult to be nostalgic for the days of summer that are frankly so disagreeable. However, when the calendar turns to August, the season is definitely turning a page as well.

This year, August boasts the rare occurrence of a total solar eclipse on Monday, Aug. 21. Our area will see most of it; South Carolina is preparing for the whole thing. 

Truly four solid weeks of summer remain, although the daylight is growing steadily shorter, melons ripen while other garden crops are thinning out, and the back-to-school ads start to appear in the paper. Fall sports practices are getting underway on the athletic fields. In the mental calendar of our lives, we know what’s next; but fall is not quite yet at hand.

Relief from the heat occurs now and then, and those who prefer the summer over all other seasons still have August to make the most of it. It’s now or n...