We interrupt this program...

I wanted to show a picture from Halloween morning before it gets too old. The morning was one of the coldest we've had this fall and the vineyard was covered in frost. These leaves are now brown and probably on the ground, but that day they were tinged with white frost.

Jack Frost has been here. Or should that be Jacques Frost?

That frost was apparently the trigger for most of the trees around here to turn color and begin dropping their leaves. Since then the temperatures have warmed up a bit. We're currently having a spell of mild weather. One of the growers whose vines are out back has already begun his annual pruning. Other workers are out replacing worn stakes, wires, and digging out dying vines. The winter work is under way.