oh autumn...where art thou?

We are so happy to have known the beauty of your turning leaves in the mountains that surrounded us in Colorado. We are so happy to have experienced the millions of leaves that fell to the ground in our old yard. We are so fond of the memories that we have of raking all those millions of leaves and jumping in them before they were bagged and passed on as garden mulch. We are kinda happy we don't have to rake all those millions of leaves this year. We so kindly remember the crisp morning air that brought with it the hint of winter to come. We so happily remember the way your golden sunlight played on the fading grass in the pasture. Oh how we loved the end of our garden season, with the last few tomatoes and zucchini doing their best to survive the first frost, and how we anxiously awaited the harvest of our homegrown pumpkins. That is the autumn that we knew.

This is the new autumn. Slightly cooler mornings that are allowing me to open the doors and windows for a few hours before the temperatures still reach one hundred in the afternoon. More cars on the roads as people are starting to return after being away for the summer. The sound of the howling coyotes at night after being silent for the summer. Shorts and sandals still being the clothing of choice every day. Snapdragons, petunias and geraniums popping up in all the stores. And, commercials on the radio telling us it is time to start planting our vegetable garden.

There was proof of that at Lowe's yesterday. Rows and rows of tomato plants ready to be planted. More evidence to support the seasonal confusion that is plaguing me. As I was walking into the store I passed a woman loading the back of her car with about 10 geranium plants. When I passed through the doors, Halloween and Christmas displays were fighting for my attention. A big blow up Santa goes well with geraniums and tomato plants doesn't it? The good news is that we could have fresh tomatoes for Thanksgiving.

That is, however, if the lizards, javelina, bobcats, rabbits, frogs, owls, gila monsters, rodents or snakes don't get to them first. Would a vegetable garden be like putting out a welcome sign in our yard?