Summer is fast slipping away and this is the time to savor long afternoons at the beach, collecting shells and sea glass and maybe a bushel of quahaugs for chowder.

The weather has been normal for late August, beginning with a good preview of fall a week ago when a northwest wind blew in and temperatures dropped at night. Light sweaters and blankets came out of hiding and many thought summer had been cruelly snatched away. But they were wrong.

Soft, warm days returned just as quickly as they left. Flower gardens are a riot of late summer color; beach plums are plentiful this year and seaside goldenrod has begun to bloom.