– William Shakespeare
On this 3rd day of NaBloPoMo, I’ve been waiting for it all day. The sky tells me it’s coming. When I step out on to the patio, I feel the bite through my clothes and the crisp air fills my lungs. The birds are quiet today, as are the rabbits and squirrels. They feel the change in the air. Over the past few days, the last of the leaves fell from the ash trees out back and the honey locust tree in the front. The tomato plants, though still full with unripe fruit from our late summer, rest their tired, brown limbs against the cages still staked in the ground. Most of the garden was cleared weeks ago, the last of the winter squash harvested along with the pumpkins, grapes, and peppers. And, today I am ready; ready to say goodbye to the garden until the spring, ready for sweaters and scarves, ready for down quilts, good books, and long evenings. Today, I am ready for the snow and the killing frost that places the rest of the yard into its long slumber, for when the yard slumbers my season of internal excavation begins.
by Mary Lanzavecchia 
I’m a little envious of this slumber, and of the sweaters and scarves and good books and long evenings. 🙂
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i hope to have my first garden next year. love this.
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Thank you, Robbie. I will be holding good thoughts for your first garden. It is so much fun to have a place to go and watch the earth transform itself right before your eyes.
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I have one tomato left (out of 21 plants this spring). I had planted it in a pot. It has a cluster of green ones and I’m wondering if they will turn. We had two nights dip into freezing briefly. We’ll see. And yes. Your words express my feelings too Acquiescence. The change is inevitable.
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21 plants?! Wow! I must know, what did you do with all the tomatoes? Pasta sauce, salsa? Do share!
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that was truly beautiful…I walked outside with you, saw it all the way you did…thank you
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Thank you for reading and sharing the walk.
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Love this. I sometimes wish I still lived where winter is one of the seasons.
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Thank you. Sometime I wish I still lived closer to the beach, but I do love the seasons and the signals they give me every year.
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How beautiful, Mary. It even feels like fall to us now in San Diego and we’ve got two blankets on at night, sweaters on and lots of good books to read. Imagine if I lived in a place that was actually cold!
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I adore you. I remember one day my sister (out there in your neighborhood) was going on and on about cold it was and, during the same call, I was going on and on about how warm in was out here. We then compared notes and realized we have matching temps that day; it was somewhere in the low 60’s.
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This was SOOOOOO beautiful, Mary, and I wish I could agree. But I’m still getting over the fact of no more summer and I’m cold already! I have on sweats and heavy socks and fleece slippers. Ah, winter. How many days until spring? 🙂
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Than you, Cathy! I’ll be counting the days until spring Jan. 2, which is when the days will seem unbearably long. 😉
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The season of “internal excavation” love that!
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Thank you!
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Indeed. Love this Mary. I am ready too…but Southern California isn’t having it. 😉
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Thank you, Elin. Come January, I’ll probably be hoping my little area of Colorado would behave a bit more like Southern California.
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