The dull gray skies go on and on. Saturday morning the birdbath was iced over and later in the afternoon snow swirled briefly before turning over to rain.
Summer ends but the crisp, clear days of autumn do not follow. Instead we have bone chilling damp and weepy skies. No lovely red and gold leaves to ease the way from summer's bright colors into winter's dreary browns. I wonder, will the leaves change this year or will they simply fall from the trees still green.
I said goodbye to my garden during a brief spell of sunshine. I was sad to see a monarch butterfly and a red admiral there. They won't survive this hard freeze. The monarch waited too long to leave home and journey south.
The annuals are gone now. The perennials are tough, they will hold on through a few more freezes, then they too will give up hoping summer will return.
I know the year is dying,
Soon the summer will be dead.
I can trace it in the flying
Of the black crows overhead;
I can hear it in the rustle
Of the dead leaves as I pass,
And the south wind's plaintive sighing
Through the dry and withered grass.
~ Mortimer Crane Brown
