Many leaves are already falling, their demise undoubtedly hastened by the recent heat, and today I finally got around to removing those of last autumn's leaves that I left around the bases of shrubs and hedges to help the ground hold in what little water I was able to give the plants this year. In raking and binning them I stirred up some dust, and probably some mold as well, along with them, as I've been sneezing ever since. But now I have a wheelie bin at the street stuffed with last year's leaves as well as some of this years prematurely dead, and they will be hauled off tomorrow to be burned in the energy plant that is now their destination. I will use the electricity they produce to write about this year's leaves on my computer. Ah, the circle of technologically enhanced life.
Anyway, it's a happy moment, and I'm going to celebrate tonight with some frozen Italian food baked in the oven. Ah, the oven! How I've missed it! Welcome back, old friend, and enjoy wafting the aroma of marinara sauce through the kitchen as last you did long ago, in the cool, early springtime. I think I'll make some garlic toast, too. May this be the first of many actual meals the new and milder season will bring. Welcome back, September.
