Pure Living After 60 - August Newsletter

 

FROM THE EDITOR 

Summer’s final gift 

There is something about August that feels both abundant and fleeting. The warmth is still here, the days are still generous, and yet there’s a subtle shift in the light, a hint, if you’re paying attention, that the season is beginning its slow turn. The swallows are restless. The evenings come a little sooner than they did in June. 

Rather than feel the melancholy of summer’s end, August invites something better: the art of truly finishing well. Of being fully present in what’s here, right now, before it quietly becomes something else. 

This month we’re thinking about harvest, not just from the garden, but from the year so far. What has grown? What has surprised you? What are you ready to carry forward into autumn? 

 

WELLNESS THIS MONTH 

The August body check-in 

August is a natural moment to take stock. Summer tends to shift our routines, sleep patterns loosen, meals become less structured, and movement becomes more spontaneous. For some people that’s deeply restorative. For others, by the time August arrives, the body is quietly asking for a little more regularity again. 

This month, notice rather than judge. How is your sleep? How is your energy in the mornings compared to June? Are you eating well or grazing through the heat? Small honest observations now make September’s return to rhythm considerably easier. 

Sleep and the light. As evenings begin to shorten, sleep often improves naturally. If August mornings feel easier than July’s, that’s why, and it’s worth capitalising on by setting a consistent bedtime. 

Hydration still matters. August heatwaves can be deceptive, cooler than July but still demanding on the body. Keep the water habit going. It’s easier to maintain than restart. 

A gentle movement audit. Has summer brought more movement or less? Neither answer is a verdict — just useful information for what comes next. A quiet ten-minute walk is always a good place to begin again. 

 

SEASONAL EATING 

The harvest table 

August is the most abundant month in the British kitchen. The growing season is at its peak, and the variety available right now, much of it local, much of it at its nutritional best, is extraordinary. Here is what deserves a place on your plate: 

Sweetcorn — At its very best in August, and one of the vegetables where freshness makes the most dramatic difference. Boiled or grilled on the cob, it needs almost nothing. A good source of fibre, B vitamins, and antioxidants, including lutein, which supports eye health. 

Plums — The British plum season arrives in August and is brief and glorious. Rich in vitamin C, potassium, and sorbitol, which supports healthy digestion. Eat them fresh, roast them with a little honey, or simmer them into a compote for yoghurt. 

Aubergine — August aubergines are dense, silky, and deeply satisfying. Roast until collapsing, blend into baba ganoush, or layer into a simple gratin. Contains nasunin, a compound in the skin linked to brain cell protection. 

Blackberries — The hedgerows begin yielding their blackberries from mid-August. Pick them yourself if you can — foraging is free, genuinely joyful, and connects you to the landscape in a way that a supermarket shelf simply doesn’t. Exceptionally high in vitamin C and antioxidants. 

French beans — Tender, quick to cook, and versatile enough to go anywhere. Blanched and dressed with a little olive oil and garlic, or added to salads still warm. A reliable source of folate and iron, both important after sixty. 

 

MINDFUL LIVING 

Taking stock before the turn 

There is a particular quality to late August that makes it one of the best times of the year for honest reflection. Summer is ending, but autumn hasn’t begun. A pause between chapters, if you’re willing to use it as one. 

Not a formal review. Not a list of achievements. Just a quiet sit somewhere pleasant and a few simple questions worth turning over: What has this year given you so far that you didn’t expect? What have you let go of — a worry, a habit, an old story about yourself — that you’re glad to be without? And what one thing, however small, would make the next four months feel genuinely well spent? 

August won’t wait to be appreciated. It’s already here, and it’s rather beautiful. Notice it before it becomes September. 

“Summer ends, and Autumn comes, and he who would have it otherwise would have high tide always and a full moon every night.” — Hal Borland 

 

MOVEMENT 

Foraging as movement 

August offers one of the most pleasurable forms of gentle exercise that exists, and most people don’t think of it as exercise at all. Foraging for blackberries, elderberries, sloes, or wild herbs involves walking, bending, reaching, and a quality of attentive presence that is genuinely meditative. You can’t forage while thinking about something else. The activity demands that you be exactly where you are. 

For anyone who finds the word ‘exercise’ carries a faint sense of obligation, foraging offers a way in. It is purposeful, unhurried, and produces something tangible at the end. A bowl of blackberries, warm from the sun. A handful of herbs for supper. The particular quiet satisfaction of having found something. 

If you’re new to foraging, a good field guide and a little caution go a long way. Stick to what you know or can identify confidently, and keep to footpaths and public land. The blackberry, at least, is entirely unmistakable. 

 

CONNECTION 

Before everyone disperses 

August has a particular social quality — people are often away, routines are suspended, and the usual rhythms of community pause. But it also creates pockets of unexpected availability. A friend who is around precisely because they’re not travelling. A neighbour you bump into in the garden on a warm evening. A family member who has come back for the summer. 

These unplanned moments of connection, the ones that arise from proximity and unhurried time rather than diary coordination, tend to be among the most nourishing. 

August, with its loosened structure, offers more of them than most months. Be available for them. 

And if there is someone you’ve been meaning to see all year but haven’t quite managed — August, before the busy autumn begins, is a remarkably good time to simply pick up the phone. 

 

THIS MONTH’S REFLECTION 

What are you grateful for right now? 

Not a list. Not a journal prompt. Just a genuine pause, somewhere in the middle of this month, in the warmth of a late August afternoon, to notice what is actually good in your life, right now, today. 

Gratitude research is extensive and consistent: the deliberate act of noticing what is good, really noticing, not just cataloguing, measurably shifts mood, reduces stress hormones, and builds the kind of psychological resilience that makes difficult things easier to carry. After sixty, when the texture of what matters tends to simplify, this practice often comes more naturally than it did earlier in life. 

Summer gave you something this year. It always does. Before it slips into autumn, it’s worth knowing what that was. 

Thank you for being part of the Pure Living After 60 community. 

Wishing you a warm, abundant, and deeply savoured August. 

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