Not enough swimming. Too little time with summer friends. Clamming, kayaking, sailing: see swimming.

Summer’s on the wane, outgoing ferries are full, incoming ferries less so, and the sun sets earlier these days. It’s time to look around and say where did the summer go? It went the way all summers do, too fast.

But like footprints in the sand, the memories stay, at least for a little while. Long walks on the beach in June before the water had warmed enough to take the plunge, berry-picking in the dry heat of July, fish dinners with corn on the cob and homemade pie in the downpours that finally came in August.

This is the sweet spot of summer, after the fair and the fireworks, before it’s time to really think about back to school for the children. Warm ocean water beckons (see swimming), summer friends are still here for one last dinner, a few blackberries remain for one last picking.

Then comes Labor Day, but not yet.

Not quite yet.