Here Comes the Rain Again...

As I write, rain is coming down hard, the rain typical of a Western Washington autumn.  While I love rain, the abrupt change in the quality and amount of light that occurs at the start of autumn can wreak havoc with one's mood.  Last week, I wrote about the therapeutic virtues of bottling tomatoes, and later today, I will be doing just that.

Last night as chill descended before sleep, and  a large, loving kitty curled up in the spoon of my belly, I reached for another blanket and thought of this poem from my last autumn in Utah..

Waning

A nibble of frost

reminds me that this is

fine tomato soup weather:

time to save sunshine away

on dark, orderly shelves,

time to ponder that blanket

tidy over  the footboard,

time to take stock and chop

what the garden has surrendered

each in its season.

Shadows lean north

and fall long upon the pumpkins.

Glare of desert summer dims

as blue sky deepens,

rabbit brush bursts,
scrub oaks blush.