So we had spent the entire day inside. Cooped up, avoiding the cold and damp. Finally we were just too restless, so I dressed the boys up nice and warm, got into jeans and shoes and headed out to the front yard to rake leaves. And the clouds just opened up. We had been outside about 30 seconds and it simply poured on us. The only rain all day. I raked anyway. The boys played in the front seat of the 4Runner while I huddled in my hoodie and scraped the sopping leaves together. They are yet unbagged but the front yard does look better.

We have a gorgeous maple tree in the front yard. It small but vibrant. Unfortunately it only takes about a two weeks for the leaves to turn and fall off. They start out a rusty brown and gradually move through stages of orange to a vibrant, brilliant red. As soon as they turn fully red they begin to fall and a few days later the tree is bare. When they fall you get to see both the gorgeous red of the top and the pearly pink of the underside of the leaves in a mottled blanket on the grass. I should have taken a picture.

I’m in the middle of Joan Didion’s Political Fictions. Quite apt for the season. Speaking of which. Cast a ballot today but do so without worshipping in the temple of the secularist gods. Salvation does not come at the polls and America’s many and deep problems won’t be fixed there. We simply have a civic responsibility to participate in our own government. Oh, for a Monarchy!