Shrivel season

American elm tree known as "Ed Cotton's elm," at the corner of Old South Street and Conz Street in Northampton, Mass. This tree dates back to the late 1800s.

— Photo by Msact 

“The elm leaves shrivel on the twig

and the sun beats through and our time is big….

—From “The Long Hot Summer,’’ by Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982) poet, playwright, lawyer and government official. He spent his final decades in Conway, Mass.