Last week, while hunting for an errant chicken lost in the woods (I didn't find her but she came back two days later, I kind of wonder what she was doing to stay alive out there) I came across one red leaf, laying in the middle of the path by the fairy house. A fall leaf.
Here and there, as we drive from the house to the village and back again, there are signs that fall is coming. At first I thought we had some sick trees around here, that the cool summer and copious rain had fool them somehow. But that only held up when it was just a tree or two. It is daily becoming evident that fall is coming up fast as more and more trees shift from summer green to early fall greeny gold or even red. Last night I sat in our room watching the sun going down over the tree tops and realized that the big beech tree out our window is dappled yellow and green now. If I let my eyes loose focus it all looks green, still summer, but if I really look, I see fall.
In the evenings we pull on sweaters or head upstairs early where it's always a little warmer and yesterday Evelyn wore tights. She was peeling them off by lunchtime, of course, but in the morning, and then again after dinner, there they were. Tights. Sweaters. Hot cups of tea. I love fall. I'm a little surprised at it's early appearence this year, and a little nervous that all those things that need to be done before the real cold comes are no where near done, but still, it's (almost) fall. So I can't complain.