Seasons to Cycle

The Shumard Oak in our front yard has the first of its autumn color on it.
The Shumard oak in our front yard has the first of its autumn color on it.

After a quiet day with my wife at home, I finally ventured out into the evening because when I opened the door, the light was beautiful. I took my Minolta (the DiMage 7i that has become my grab cam and my blog cam), and walked around the patch. I grabbed a handful of photinia branches (the ones we try to cut off regularly) and brought them to the goats, then walked down to the pond. It was quiet and warm.

The last pear on Dorothy's tree; it was one of the best I have ever had from that tree.
The last pear on Dorothy’s tree; it was one of the best I have ever had from that tree.

The pond is dry. I walked around it and thought that because of all the shooting we’ve done recently, it has more lead in it than water.

I walked back up to the house and around to the garden, which is finished for the year because of a cold front earlier this week, at which time I gave the goats the last of the tomato and pepper plants. I climbed the mimosa and pulled down some branches and seed pods for the goats, which they devoured.

I walked down to the barn after that, where I saw that most of the pears had fallen off the old tree, with the exception of a couple that were too high for me to reach even by climbing, and one that was just where I could get it. So after taking its picture, I picked it and ate it, and found it to be one of the best pears I have ever had from that tree.

Fades morning glory vines on our arbor fence with our house in the background at sunset tonight.
Faded morning glory vines on our arbor fence with our house in the background at sunset tonight.

Halloween night. Basketball will start soon. Christmas is coming. It will get cold and that will hurt Abby’s bones, but I’ll bring her soup and coffee and blankets and whatever else it takes to keep her warm.

I thought about all of that as I walked around our little patch of green.

The Oklahoma sky tonight just after sunset, with our old walnut tree framing it.
The Oklahoma sky tonight just after sunset, with our old walnut tree framing it.