Here in Walden they can come as early as the first week of September. They are both welcomed and unwelcomed. The former because they are beautiful. The latter because you likely won’t have your snow tires on yet. The vegetable garden may not like it either. For fruit growing though, it often doesn’t cause any harm provided the actual temps don’t dip low enough to freeze the now sugar laden tissues. We also like to see the inventory of animals, now caught in the act by their footprints. So too do the hunters. It always feels new, like we didn’t remember what this looks like…and then there it is.