This week’s It Begins With a Colour challenge is to seek out the fleeting moments of summer, to find and treasure and hold on to that last little bit of summer air before Fall brings her chill. Combined with a Weekend Moment, I present to you my fleeting summer weekend moment:

This is Poppy with her Uncle Shawn, my youngest brother. This photo was taken while they were sitting on a blanket in the morning dew on one of the first days of our vacation. Camping is the highlight of summer fun for me, and yet her tiny little sweatshirt merrily indicates the stealthy approach of fall.

Our vacation was lovely, and far too short. A week in the mountains, drenched in the fragrance of campfire, could last forever and ever in my book. Poppy was a real trooper and A+ camper. She slept well at night, ate her food despite it being cold and soggy all the time, and loved being outdoors. She soaked in the crisp mountain air every day like it was the best thing ever, and trooped along trails with us like she was Marty-Freaking-Stouffer.

We visited a petting zoo on Sunday which was a real hoot. Yes, I said REAL HOOT.

You see, back when we got our kitten, we showed Poppy how to call Penny over by patting her hand on her knee and saying “Come here, Penny.” Poppy caught on to this pretty quickly and has since start calling Penny over by banging on her leg and making a sweet, high-pitched noise that somewhat resembles my irritating I’ll-Raise-You-One-Octive-While-Talking-To-Cute-Things voice. When we got to the petting zoo this weekend, Poppy immediately started patting her leg and frantically summoning all the animals from their cages. I do believe the pot-bellied pigs took one look at my Little Bacon Bit and said “Hell with that, kid. Let me eat that handful of corn you got there.” Either way, MAJOR HOOT.

I’m glad to be back home and I feel ready for a new season. Fall in Cleveland is the best. We might have to endure everlasting winters and humid summers, but I can safely say that I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else during these crisp autumn mornings than right here.