The leaves in my neighborhood have been surprisingly tenacious this year, some not even turning until last week, much less falling off the trees, but the combination of wind and rain over the last 24 hours has finally begun to win the battle. The backyard is a big wet mess of nasty right now. Maybe it’ll snow before it dries up and I can just pretend the leaves don’t exist, instead of having to rake them. (Oh, who am I kidding… I just need to find a way to ensure that I’m not the one doing the raking.)

Update, the next morning: It’s snowing.