All the leaves were brown and the sky was gray

The weekend was so gray that noon looked the same as dawn. I couldn’t even find a bright spot in the overcast where the sun was supposed to be.  The chickens went to roost around 3 p.m.—they thought evening was approaching.  Photography was not an option.

By this point in the late fall, the only leaves left are brown. The forest is completely bare, though these apple trees are still holding onto their leaves, but as brown as the leaves are, it’s hard to see how. This morning around 1:30 a.m. a fierce gust of wind blow through, clocked at 46 mph on Roundtop. None of the forest leaves made it through that gust.  It blew hard enough to wake me up. I held my breath hoping it wouldn’t get any worse and just that quickly the wind died as fast as it appeared.

Even before the wind, the trees were largely displaying their winter skeletons.  With the help of the weekend’s full moon, I could walk without a headlamp and still usually manage not to trip over my own feet, though I know the ground well and that helps. Overall, the forest is brighter at night now than it was a month ago, and that means my nighttime forays with Baby Dog are possible again.