Full-on fall

It certainly feels like fall. The temperatures have dropped, although there's no frost yet. It's been rainy and foggy. And leaves are tumbling everywhere, bright colors giving way to brown. Some of the grape growers have started their annual vine pruning. Seems early to me, but I talked with one of them during the week who said that the gamay leaves are all on the ground, so it's time to get started. I guess the sauvignon leaves hold on longer.

 The maple leaves just off the deck turn orange and gold before dropping into the driveway.

I lit a fire in the wood stove on Saturday and I may do the same today. I've got a few long limbs from a tree that fell against our fence last spring and I want to cut them into burnable lengths. The vegetable garden is still staring at me, longing to be cleaned up, but I want to wait until it's less muddy. During the summer the garden soil felt like concrete; now it looks like a swamp. And there are leaves to rake.