The Crepe Myrtles are in full bloom, I saw my first Monarch butterfly this season, and the tails of the squirrels are turning gray. The summer is fading too soon! Didn’t we just get started?

Time is flying by and all the while I seem to be moving at a much slower speed and I cannot keep up. My husband Neil and I were not able to get to the Farmers Market until this past week and there are only a few weeks remaining before it is gone. The huge delicious Jersey tomato was well worth the wait, though.

What makes me run at top speed to get it all accomplished and squeezed in? Sometimes I necessarily have urgent deadlines but often, I find, I create self-imposed constraining deadlines that make sense only to me. What, the laundry can’t wait one more day? But then, the Farmers Market is in O.C. only on Wednesdays so we must go on a Wednesday, which squeezes it between my husband Neil’s and my three-day-a-week morning fitness workout and Neil getting to his volunteer work at the church, which has been on Wednesdays forever. Such a rush to buy a tomato.

But this week we were blessed by running into a couple I did not think we would see again. Kathy and Bob run K&B Kettle Corn. When we met up last year, they said they had a buyer for the business and were finally retiring. That never finalized and, rather than retire, they are still cooking. It was a pleasure to see old friends and so we lingered longer than our intended timeline — and that is how the pressure grows. Timelines in retirement: Am I nuts or what?

Some weeks I can say I am truly enjoying the sweetness of summer, reading the latest book from Joel Rosenberg and imagining, along with his storyline, that this Marcus Ryker adventure is going to be the one that kills him. Other weeks, I literally don’t have time to smell the roses.

One Friday last month I looked at our calendar and every day the following week was open, other than Neil’s Wednesday volunteer gig. By Monday morning, almost the entire week had become filled with appointments and necessary meetings that must be attended that had suddenly appeared out of thin air. I have found this to be a part of retirement and why so many people say they are busier in retirement than when they worked.

Our schedules are not set as in our working days and some weeks become just plain helter-skelter, where Neil goes one direction and I head another. We try to meet up at home for lunch but even that doesn’t always work out. He enjoys helping fix things for the single and widow ladies who still live in their marriage homes. All houses need attention, pipes break or leak, appliances wear out, and each of those that he helps is a joy both for the giver and receiver.

Generally I too enjoy the work I do at the Ecumenical Food Cupboard but these past few months we have been transitioning our computer system and I am the buyer and one responsible to work with our wonderful volunteer IT guy. It is a blessing and a terror for me because I am easily frustrated by computer failures, since I have no fix-it or repair knowledge. That is why we have the IT wonder man — but, I hate to beg free time from anyone during the summer months, which seem too short already. He has been so very helpful but even with that we are not yet done.

So, as the days grow shorter and the darkness is coming earlier, I am feeling a little bit deprived and maybe even some melancholy is coming on. I do love fall but does summer have to be so very short? And then, to put the nail in the coffin so to speak, I went shopping and realized the stores have all the back-to-school specials on. It’s 90 degrees out and I am looking at flannel shirts! Oh, my. Oh, my.

And yet, how can I not be thankful that God has provided us with such a wonder as four amazing seasons here in New Jersey? God has blessed this area beyond our imaginations. An ocean here, a bay over there, and seafood and water all around us. The fresh produce that we have enjoyed this year is grown on local farms. Day in and day out, I give glory to God for all the gifts He provides so I guess I must push this keyboard aside and get out there and enjoy the remaining days of summer before they are gone!

Editor’s note: Amy Patsch writes from Ocean City. Email her at  writerGoodGod@gmail.com.