The Last Rose of Summer

"'Tis the last rose of summer,

Left blooming alone;

All her lovely companions

Are faded and gone;

No flower of her kindred,

No rosebud is nigh,

To reflect back her blushes,

Or give sigh for sigh."

    -Thomas Moore

Next week will be the last official week of summer, ending as it always does with Labor Day.  It is ironic that we mark this time as summer's end because at least in Chicago, September can serve up some of our best weather.  The heat's usually gone, as is the humidity.  The days are still long enough that you can enjoy the outdoors after work or on the weekend and the autumn rains generally hold off until the end of the month.  

The end of August is for most of us usually languid and bittersweet.  Time seems to slow down a bit as we enjoy this final burst of summer.  Even if the kids are back in school, it never feels like it's officially started until after Labor Day.  We also have some time to remember what we did over the past few months or regret the things we said we'd accomplish but never seemed to get done while the weather was nice. 

It is the same with the markets.  Next week will be thinly traded and the investment community will concentrate on one final jaunt to whatever watering hole they use as a summer playground.  For one final part of 2018 the rest of the world will be shut away for a little while.  It is not as if the issues concerning the markets  will go away.  The President I'm sure will tweet something provocative.  The pundits will talk about his legal problems, the possibility of rising interest rates or our current trade spats with the rest of the world.  Others will take a peek at the coming elections in the fall or point to whatever crisis is likely to brew as the weather cools.  These events though will be shunted aside and put on the back burner until after Labor Day.  The world will slow down for a bit and that's a good thing.  In the meantime stocks trade near record highs, the economy is buzzing along and people have a bit more spending money in their pockets courtesy of last year's tax cuts.  

I too am going to take the coming week off.  We'll shut this down now until sometime the week after Labor Day.  First post here will probably be the 5th or 6th of September.  I have a car to drive home from Rhode Island over the holiday weekend and it's going to take some time for me to get organized when I'm back.

Shakespeare famously stated that "summer's lease hath all to short a date".  Those of us that live in parts of the country where we actually get cold weather for months at a time know true well the meaning of his words.  Summer goes by so quickly for most of us.  It seems like only yesterday when we were getting ready for Memorial Day.  Now September is upon us!  I'm a bit out in the country when I'm in Rhode Island.  The little place where we stay was once a farm and there's still a field out in back.  Perhaps because of that  you can feel summer waning away now.  I notice the day's aren't as long as they were a few weeks back.  The light looks a bit different later in the day.  Nights are a bit more crisp and they serve up a reminder that the principle season of the north is not the one you're currently in.  Crickets, the heralds of autumn, now chirp incessantly throughout the day.  It is time to take a break and enjoy these things one more time and smell those last roses of summer.  Whatever issues we have can wait till the clock rolls into September.  Well see you after the return trip from the east coast unless something warrants a break in from out this way.  

One last thing.  There's an important football game next weekend!  Notre Dame plays Michigan in a crucial opening week matchup.   Go Irish!