We are having a warm fall here in Southeastern Virginia. The temperatures at night have dropped into the low sixties but day time highs are often in the lower eighties and we still have that wonderful humidity that keeps our skin so dewey and makes all of us Southerners look so young.

As a result of the long Indian summer, the grass remains green and growing ... and growing and growing and growing. I might still be cutting grass at Thanksgiving.

In addition to the growing grass, the leaves on all the trees are still nice and green. But the leaves are not fooling me. I can hear the faint rustle in the leaves every time I walk by a tree and I know just what they are saying. Each little leaf is wondering out loud when the signal will come. The leaves may appear hale and hearty and green but their time on the trees is limited and about to end.

One fateful day, the signal will indeed come and the leaves will fall into action. Usually there is some event that triggers the first mass exodus of the leaves ... a Nor'easter, a particularly blustery day or even just a good hard rain. Within a few hours, the ground will be covered in leaves and this will just be the start. Soon after these first leaves fall, legions of leaves will soon follow and the work will begin.

It will be time to rake the leaves ...

God Bless America.

Enjoy!