Mums

Mums and sunflowers are the late summer flowers that hint at the end of the summer season. Yes, there’s still August and half of September, but it’s a bittersweet time for me. I love August in New York State for its vivid beauty and the summer harvest, but it doesn’t have the same sense of possibility as in the earlier summer months.

On these rows of mums, thousands of small buds await their bloom. Once they open, the plants will be ready to sell at the Amish market where I took this photo. I find this moment before the bloom to be quite poignant. This photo also reminds me of the book cover of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce that I read about fifteen years ago.