The end of summer rush has taken a toll in the McTaggart household. In addition to all that I’ve been doing for the past few weeks, it’s the wife’s busy season at work too. She’s just as caught up in projects that need to be done, people that need to be dealt with, and deadlines that are looking sketchier by the day. At least she works inside an air-conditioned office, but the trade off is that I don’t have to deal with hordes of college-age kids. I’ll roast in the sun in Memphis a second time before I have to endure that. Add to it stress at home with one of the three cats undergoing medical issues and we’ve been at our wits’ end for a bit. So on Friday night, we said “screw it”. We made sure the felines were okay for a couple of hours and we made the relatively short drive into Franklin, Kentucky for a car show in the town square.

Now, this isn’t one of the two big shows that have been going on recently. We missed the first one and the second one was going on all day Saturday, while I was out at other events. (You’ll see photos from those stops soon, I promise.) Instead, this was a little get-together hosted by the Relentless car club right about sunset on one of the last official days of summer. Franklin is one of those neat little towns with the courthouse square, and on most normal show dates, the entire square is filled to the brim with cars. But on this night, the setting was a bit more personal, a bit more intimate. Everybody knew each other via a connection somehow, whether it was a buddy I know at Holley who showed up, or a friend of my wife’s who we were able to catch up with. As the sky grew darker and the colors grew deeper, the smell of high-test from a hot-rod Ford and the sound of the bass thump from a Chevelle Laguna seemed that much richer.

In the wee morning hours of this upcoming Monday, autumn will arrive. The trees are just starting to tinge into color here in Kentucky, and before we know it we’ll be buying presents, serving turkey and wondering just what the hell eggnog really is. Get out there while you can and enjoy these warm evenings.