Today feels like the real wrap up of summer here, and it’s one of those changes you can actually see and hear. Just a few days ago the town was bursting at the seams, with voices carrying up from the beach starting before 6:30 in the morning and still drifting through the streets at one or one-thirty at night. The restaurants were packed, reservations impossible to come by, grocery store shelves cleared and constantly being restocked, parking spots gone before you even had a chance to circle around.
Then, almost overnight, everything shifted. The town exhaled. The noise lifted, the streets opened, the grocery stores settled back into rhythm. It’s quiet enough now to hear the surf again, and that sound feels like the town reminding you of what’s always been here beneath the layers of summer frenzy.
This place isn’t for everyone. From fall through spring, the numbers are steady because nothing new has been built here for some time. No new apartments, no new houses, just the same neighbors who live here year-round. And starting in September, you begin to see them more. During the height of summer, people either stay tucked away or head out on vacations of their own, but once the visitors leave, the year-round folks reappear, and it’s like seeing the town again for the first time.
The air itself changes. Cooler winds roll in, mornings dip back under seventy degrees, the humidity loosens its grip. The sun rises later, sets earlier, and the skies soften into pastels that feel like a gentle curtain closing on the season. The whole shift is stark. One week ago the town was so frenetic you couldn’t hear yourself think. Now it’s calm enough to sit by an open window and hear your neighbors talking as they walk their dogs, calm enough to pick any café table you want without even asking.
What I love most about it is the rhythm. The extremes are visible in a way they wouldn’t be in a bigger place. Here, you walk down the same street in July and every coffee table is full, then in September you walk down that same street and you can have your pick of where to sit. It’s the same town, just breathing differently. And right now, it’s breathing easy.
Welcome, fall. I’ve missed you.
It's Fine, I'm Fine, Everything's Fine 