How Is It the End of August?
Phew! I’m catching my breath as I realize this is the last week of August, and Labor Day weekend is upon us. Given that Labor Day is on September 1, it’s literally as early as it can be, and is robbing us of a bonus week of August.
Besides the calendar, there are other signs of Summer’s rapidly approaching end. Sunrise is now after 6am (much to our delight, since our chocolate lab, Daisy, gets up with the sun), and sunset is rapidly creeping backwards toward 7pm. And the grasses in the Provincetown Moors are getting their golden hue–it feels like just yesterday it was April and we were watching the initial green shoots–thousands and thousands of them–turn the landscape from a muddy brown to a soft, fuzzy green.
And even more noticeably, town is slowly emptying out. It’s very subtle now, but after Carnival ended on August 22, there is more room on Commercial Street to walk, run, and bike (I still would not recommend driving on it). The grocery store looks less ransacked, and empty bike racks abound.
This thinning out of humanity will continue, with each week bringing a reduction of tourists and the slow but steady departure of Summer residents.
But for now, I’m embracing the unique light this time of year, when “golden hour” is truly golden and not just the fiery orange of Summer. One of my favorite places to shoot in late August is in front of the bike rack/fence at the Boy Beach trail entrance. Look west toward Herring Cove at around 6:30 or so and you can capture some magnificent golden sun slipping behind the trees, dunes, and the little hill that Province Lands Road becomes on its way to the beach parking lots.
As always, here are a few of my favorite photos that I either took or finalized this month. Enjoy!
