My friend Sharlee lives on Chappy. For years we have traded garden and/or weather related anecdotes. For the first time in decades she shared that her garden froze before mine in Vineyard Haven. We often said that Chappy has a perimeter of water that kept it cooler in the spring and a bit warmer in fall. I’m going to make an old lady statement: “nothing is the same as it used to be.”

One thing I find interesting about fall foliage is the different colors of various types of maple trees. Last week I complained that an overnight wind stripped the sugar maple of all its orange leaves. I have a Japanese Maple in full and glorious red right now.

When I first moved to the property in the early 70s, it was basically sand. I used to drive around and pick up trash bags full of leaves set out by folks for the trash man. I put them in a big pile on the edge of the driveway to decompose and hopefully give me some free compost for the vegetables. As luck would have it, several Maple trees grew. They are a variety that is still green, just beginning to turn yellow. Fun fact: we tapped them for sap this past February. They are 50 feet tall. It made a syrup not quite as sweet as the sugar maple, but still delicious on those Sunday morning pancakes.

I’m not sure what appropriate euphemism to use for my tasks this week. Thanks to son Reuben, grandson Michael and Violet, we invited the pigs inside to spend the winter in the freezer. I’m grateful for both their lives and my ability to provide for myself.

On Tuesday, there were flakes of snow floating around. Yikes! It did make me feel woefully unprepared. Since we’ve had so many beautiful days of late, I kept thinking we have nothing but time before winter begins in earnest.

I have planted spring-flowering bulbs as late as January and still had success. I’ve even had luck planting them in large ornamental pots or whiskey barrels. It’ much more economical than purchasing a single started tulip or daffodil in the nurseries at Easter. They can be left for years with a seasonal dusting of bulb tone.

Word to the wise: the frost-free outdoor spigots will still freeze if you leave the hose attached. Don’t forget to drain the hose as freezing and thawing will shorten its lifespan.

I’m not good at crowd size estimates but, safe to say, hundreds of us ate sugar and danced the night away at the annual Barnraiser’s Ball. I love living in this community.

Every day I think our political situation could not possibly get worse and, sadly, it does. The “in your face” blatant corruption is almost as bad as the pure embarrassment on the world stage. The downright mean policies toward the poor and the marginalized seem to be accepted. I feel like the entire country is living in the movie, Men in Black. Remember how Tommy Lee Jones flashed the white light and people forgot what just happened?