Leaves falling down

After another day of rain, many more leaves have fallen. Last evening, I stood out on the back deck of the cabin and saw Nell’s Hill to my west. The mountain is still partially obscured by leaves and trees, but the outline is now easily visible to anyone and not just to me because I know where to look.

If you pressed me to guess, I’d say that the leaves are about half down. In some areas, the trees are mostly bare. A few feet away is a stand where it looks as though none have fallen, but overall, I’m sticking with the idea that half are still on the trees and half aren’t.

As ever, I’m trying to guess if the state of the leaf fall today is ahead or behind "normal." I’ve decided I can’t answer that question today. Ask me again around November 2, as that’s the day I’ve marked on my calendar over the years as the day when all or nearly all the leaves are down. I have a sense that perhaps this fall is a few days behind normal, but it’s close enough to normal that it likely doesn’t make much difference.

More rain is forecast over the next several days, though not much wind. I expect more leaves to fall in the next four days, but will it be enough to push the trees toward their winter bareness? I suspect four days is not long enough for all the remaining leaves to fall, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they are all down in another week.