I’m not complaining about the rain here. Michigan is far from the ravages of the hurricane, getting only its wispy edges as the system falls apart, and the rain – normal amounts of rain over ordinary periods of time – is necessary and appreciated. The tiny creek in my neighborhood is still a tiny creek. I’m grateful for that, and deeply sympathetic to the towns, counties, and states dealing with floods today. I wish for them a prompt return to the kind of day I walked out to in my yard this morning. Everything glowed. The burning bush was a lantern, announcing October – topiaried, as you see, by the deer. Burning bush can be invasive, but our local deer would never let that happen.

I always say that autumn is my favorite season, but really it’s the transitions from each season to the next that are my favorite places in the calendar. In honor of this occasion, I put pots of marigolds and black petunias out by the front steps. Petunias get a little goofy in rain, but they’ll have a good drink and then open back up when it’s over. Meanwhile they’re making little bats out of themselves, to go with the marigolds’ pumpkin spiciness.

Probably the biggest rain transformation is the driveway. The plain old asphalt is, this morning, an impressionist study in grey. There’s a lot to see in it – maybe North and South America? A witch with a teddy bear? The picture shifts, with the light, as I walk along. partly reflecting trees and partly tossing the light around.

The back section of the driveway has the added attraction of pine needles. A deconstructed haystack? The aftermath of a haircut? A length of houndstooth checked wool waiting to be made into a sports jacket? The little stack of logs at the far end is there to remind Edison, whose trucks have been in the neighborhood trimming trees ahead of blizzard season, not to roll their cherry-picker rig onto my septic field.

Clouds are pretty much smooth and grey while it’s raining, but after the storm they can get glorious. I hope people in the disaster zone recover soon, and reestablish happy relations with nature.