Frost!

Finally, after an August and September that felt like they would never end with 95 - 100 degree days the norm, we finally got officially into Autumn.  Not on the calendar but weather wise. I always measure the calendar at the end of the year by certain events and changes in the weather. Dove season was always the end of summer for me. Activities, schedules and weather would change after that opening. Then the next was the first frost. Autumn began in earnest and the woods and fields started a different look and feel. Opening day of deer season was another milestone when cold weather was close behind. Real cold weather, winter weather. And then the first snow which meant that deep, short days, bone chilling cold for the next few weeks. After that it was waiting for that first 70 degree day to change in the other direction.

Yesterday we had our first significant frost so I forced myself out of bed early enough to enjoy it before the sun burned it off and I have to say it was worth it. The sky was crystal clear and the creatures were out. I saw more wildlife than I have seen in months. I guess they were glad the summer was over too. After riding awhile I wound up painting in Totty's Bend at a friends farm who had called to let me know he had round bales on the ground. As I painted the sun was burning the frost off the tops and creating vapor that I tried and found out frost vapor is a little tough to paint.
Now that we have had that first good frost things will start to change rapidly over the next few weeks and there is not a better place to catch the show than here in middle Tennessee.