A Continued Green Autumn

December commences this week as we move slowly towards the end of the calendar year. I believe some folks refer to December as the beginning of meteorological winter. Another few weeks of lessening daylight, then with official start of astronomical winter on December 21st daylight will begin to slowly lengthen. It probably won't feel like winter until January. The winter winds were working their way around last week, though, removing whatever warmth hung around with the prior week's minor heat wave and also quickly dismantled whatever leaves hung around so that now it looks like winter. There are a few move leaves clinging desperately to the large trees surrounding our house and I'm hoping they've finished their gravitationally induced fall before I attempt to clean our gutters prior to the forecast significant rainfall midweek, the first in a very long time. It has been a mostly lovely autumn and I'm glad for the return of some sustained sunshine today. Outside crops are still thriving, though a few of the more cold sensitive ones show a bit of stress from the wind and the subsequent drop into the mid-20s last week.