Susan Says . . .

— We are on a steady march from autumn into winter and subtle changes in the weather forewarn us of the transition. We had our first killing frost a week ago Saturday and another frosty night last Friday. The farmers’ market has closed for the year and I’ve pulled a few of the withered tomato plants from the bed near the fish pond. Donald Hall, in his delightful book, “Seasons at Eagle Pond”, reminds us that Winter begins at the solstice of Dec. 22, “but the soul’s calendar, like the body’s, knows that Autumn dwindles by entropy into Winter as Halloween turns the corner into November.” That holiday is coming up Saturday and Hall writes, “At Halloween the mounded pumpkins of the roadside, carved, grin with candles from all the doorsteps, and the stuffed guys of the dooryards andall the ghosts of Summer gather at October’s end.”

I wrote a letter to nephew Jason after supper on Monday and mailed it in a card the next day as he was celebrating his twenty-fourth birthday. Shortly before noon on Tuesday I made a trip to Southwest City to keep an appointment there. I attended a meeting while I was in town, then did a bit of grocery shopping and visited niece Laura on the way home. Unfortunately I picked up a nail somewhere along the route and one of my tires was almost flat when I got home.

Jim aired the tire up but it was flat again Wednesday morning so I borrowed Mama’s car to pay a visit to Aunt Leta and go work at the library that afternoon.

I almost filled a five-gallon bucket on Thursday with walnuts that had fallen in the last few days. I pulled some dead tomato plants and threw them on the mound where we burn such refuse. A light mist began falling early in theday and rain grew heavier as we attended a meeting that night.

I worked at the newspaper office Friday morning and when Jim came in at midday we took my car to have the flat repaired. We made a shopping trip to buy some building materials and I stocked up on Halloween candy for the grandkids and other trick or treaters.

I visited the farmers’ market Saturday morning and purchased some onions, a few turnips, red and Yukon Gold potatoes. I also took home some banana peppers and crunchy fall radishes. It was a frosty morning but when the weather warmed a bit Jim and I went to Decatur where he reroofed a room. I helped him a little but spent most of my time in the pickup reading and listening to the Hogs gameon the radio.

When we returned to Gravette I visited the dollar store to purchase cat food, bleach and a plunger to unclog our toilet. While I was gone Jim put on a pot of lentils and smoked sausage and they provided a tasty supper when I finished my bath later that evening. That night’s baseball playoff game was rained out so we read and watched old TV shows on the Retro Channel.

We joined friends for a hearty breakfast in Southwest City Sunday morning.We enjoyed scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and ham, hash browns and gravy, toast, orange juice and coffee. We had a busy afternoon as sister Mary Alice was visiting when we returned and we soon had visits from a friend, nephew Dustan’s wife and daughter and Uncle Holland. I visited Aunt Leta for a short time and returned to spend the evening writing my column, reading and watching TV.

Opinion, Pages 4 on 10/28/2009