“The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last forever. Even on the most beautiful days of the whole year— the days when summer is changing into autumn—the crickets spread the rumor of sadness and change.” —E.B. White, “Charlotte’s Web”

I found two crickets in the house last week. They were tiny creatures, and I didn’t hear them chirp. I don’t know where they went. Perhaps one of the cats ate them. I didn’t think about the crickets again, until I saw this quote a friend posted on Facebook this morning.

Over the last couple of weeks, I realized that summer is waning, although I didn’t want to admit it. Some signs in the house garden are obvious. The coneflowers look scraggly, the Clethra blossoms have gone to seed, the daylilies have shed their leaves and sprouted new ones, and the hosta leaves are starting to turn yellow.

On the bright side, the Joe-Pye weed is thriving and visited daily by various species of bees and butterflies. The obedi...