A lovely haibun prompt from Kristjaan's Carpe Diem Haiku Kai blog, on "departing summer." The rules are to write not-more-than-100-word narrative followed by the haiku in traditional (5/7/5, kigo, cutting word, interchangeable first and third lines) format, on the topic of "departing summer." Kristjaan's is really cool, you should go read it.

Here's my attempt.

Today as we hiked across the field, the sun was so hot that we turned and took the longer path through the woods. The air in the shade of the trees was cooler. At the end the boys rummaged for sticks in the leaf clutter. We took two home. The longest one stretched the length of the car, jostling our elbows. After dinner the boys sat on the patio and whittled with sweaty, dirt-smudged fingers. When night came and they were asleep, I went out to sweep away the shavings.

first smell of autumn
in the air on this patio
night breeze through the trees