A Perfect Fall Evening

  A First Quarter moon hangs in the southern sky as the sun sets. We're out this evening even though it's chilly so that we can burn some limbs and paper trash.  Ohio only allows burning after 6 PM this time of year so we pretty much follow that guideline.

 The cell phone's camera brings the light level up almost to a daytime scene: blue skies show in the picture when  all I can see is a glowing black. Our dinner bell hangs silent. Was it to announce dinner or a fire?

 When Tom got home  at 6 PM we moved to the area where we keep the burn barrel and carry the last of our paper trash over. We recycle what we can, discard what we can't and burn everything that is paper.

The air has chilled to 39° as Tom starts the fire. The heat quickly envelopes us and we find  the evening much more comfortable. It is dead calm. There isn't much to burn so we don't linger long.

 We're just over a month from the shortest day of the year when the sun will have set by 5 PM. And on  that first day of winter, things will already point to spring. The days will lengthen, at first by a few seconds, then a minute, then a whole handful of minutes.

 But first snows await. Evenings will be spent inside for several months. It's time to hunker down.