As the cold north winds whip little leaf-devils, sweeping dried leaves skittering into corners, they also brush aside our last vestiges of summer past, reducing it to fading memories of warm light and life. It definitely feels more and more like the winter that was “just around the corner.” Because of fall we get to work our way gradually into the cold season, getting used to the idea of what is ahead. Imagine the disaster if there was no fall, if summer went directly to winter — what a shock that would be! Thank goodness for autumn. Some years we have an Indian Summer — a usually short period of rewarming after the first hard frost.

Fauna

Since the Last Moon much has gradually (and not-so-gradually) changed. Finally the last straggling monarchs escaped to their Michoacán winter-forest a

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