First Signs

The first fallen leaf of the season. Exciting. Sad. I'm conflicted. Because as much as I love fall, I hate winter, and it's supposed to be a cold one this year.

This is a pear leaf. And while the edges of the trees are starting to warm and crackle, true, I think last night's storms are more to blame than fall for its dropping. This morning was one of those uniquely autumn mornings: the great shifting tides of steady rain. A rainy day tucked under a blanket with a good book is perfection. Feeding the horses in the rain is not so perfect. Within the first five steps, my rain jacket is plastered to me. The runoff courses down the front of the jacket, down my bare legs, and into my boots. Wetting my socks. Filling my rain boots with, appropriately, rain. Down at the barn, the cats are curled up in their beds and the horses want hay. The rain comes sheeting off the edge of the metal roof, and without gutters, it waterfalls off in great sluices that don't help the rain-in-boots problem at all. Or the plastered-jacket problem. The writer in me loves the rain; the farmer in me does too...but I don't want to be IN it.

I love to watch the drops hit the pond. Easily entertained. We've had the greenest grass here in Georgia this year. That is SO nice going into fall - it means better winter grass and less hay that needs feeding.

I hope everyone has a lovely Labor Day. I'm having a good weekend with the release of Made for Breaking! I appreciate my readers so much! The great sales have left me twice as inspired to get the next one done.