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Warm Fades
Today was one of those October days that seemed ordered from a catalog, ticking off the options: electric blue sky…flaming riot of leaves falling and swirling in the wind….mild, warm breeze…long stretches of silence split only by birdsong. We ate brunch at a new place one town over, recently opened by a retired firefighter and his family. Just after they opened, one of their sons died tragically, and they had to close up for a while. Since they have reopened, we decided to give them a try today. It’s a little cafe’, clean and nicely decorated in a firehouse motif. Nothing fancy. We heard our waitress talking to a patron…
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Mow No Mo
Late yesterday afternoon, I decided to do my final full mowing of the year, since the temperatures are slated to drop steadily throughout this week. This is typically the timeframe in which I drive the little yellow tractor out of the barn for the last time of the season. It was a most glorious day to ride the machine and cut the grass down. I did the front and back yards, along with the front meadow. My neighbor’s son always mows the south pasture because he rakes and bales the grass for hay. I chewed up the leaves with the blades and they will make good compost material; I’m determined…
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Feast Day Of Saint Imina
The tenacity of the remaining leaves at our farm was finally bested by Saturday night’s wind and rain. The limbs are now mostly bare, and the leaves are piled in ankle-high drifts, as if the sky deposited beige origami figures during the hours of darkness. The little suncatchers, who labored so faithfully for the trunk and limbs, have fulfilled their purpose and have died and returned to the earth to fertilize the same trunk and limbs. And in the spring, when the sun swings round again in its power, the trunk will push power into the limbs and the limbs will be dotted with green popcorn exploding on the tips,…