trunk

Just before the sun went down and the little ghouls and vampires started appearing, there was an intense burst of golden light, making the dead ivy on the trunk of our big pine tree look spectacular, and all the other leaves ("peak," the NYT leaf map suggests) look pretty good, too.   When I first moved to the US I couldn't believe that the Fall was something so chartable that there was actually a map on the weather page that told one whether leaves had yet to come into their full glory or were past their best - but there it was, and is.

But.   I don't think the ivy - which we deliberately killed off - could have itself have killed the pine, could it?   Maybe it's just the dry summer that's making it suffer from needle wilt.   But it doesn't look at all happy, and believe me, the last thing that my check book needs is another tree that needs felling.   And I don't think its demise would necessarily do wonders for Curb Appeal, either (though, admittedly, under such circumstances, a stump is a great deal better than a brittle and swaying trunk).   We will see.