October 24th, 2010



I didn't go to the stores this afternoon, having been warned that the main part of town had suffered a power outage. Without their various electric and electronic devices, modern stores turn into very slow time machines, and I had no desire to hunt goods through dim aisles and then stand in line while the checkers practiced their rusted skills of calculating purchases by hand. I stayed home, where (thankfully) the power remained on.

All day the rain fell and made the roof a drum, made the leaves shake like soft cymbals. Rivulets caught the gray sky's light and pooled it in the ground's low spots, or carried it along the street's verge where the water snatched whatever bits of decay autumn had cast near and carried them off to make cluttered dams in which yet more light collected. The whole day glistened and flashed, sang and danced.

After spending a brief time lashing the street furiously, the rain slowed with evening, and soon ended. Since then there has been only the slowing drip of water from the trees for an hour or so, followed by silence. The remaining cicadas are, of course, utterly still. It's going to get quite chilly tonight, and no warm days are due. Shopping tomorrow, and maybe there will be a bit of sunlight to dazzle the damp world. The acquisition of eggs will make brownies a certainty. October has been good this year, and I hope its final week will continue the pattern.

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