Sunday, November 14—

Halloween was two weeks ago! And the pumpkins are beautiful in their decay.

It’s that November sky again, a wintry sky that could mean rain or snow.

A day of gray sky, gray cars, gray houses, and the gold and amber and orange colors of the remaining leaves on the bushes and trees. There’s a Japanese maple down the street from me that is the brightest red, now. It is as red as the red right out of a crayon box.

Leaves are flying in the wind and rain. There’s the sound of rakes and leaf blowers. I used to hate leaf blowers. I still think most of the people who use them are jerks, but I have found there are funny and friendly people, too. They just think rakes are old-school, and they don’t want to rake wet leaves. What would they think of a broom?

A broom, so humble sweeping the front porch steps, a porch for shelter out of the rain.

And now a mix of light rain, and a few flakes of snow!

This is the first snow of the season, surprising and tentative, but there is a little snow on the grassy surfaces, and snow on the leaves. Soon, it’s melting away.

Yes, real snow is coming, but there is such beauty in days like this, beauty in the impermanence of things.