November and Kate's B'day

November holds many surprises for anyone not accustomed to change. Two evenings ago, the night of human fiat instructions to daylight to be more to our liking, November treated us to the closing of its curtain on falling leaves.
The next day, by a long tradition, apple pressing, a blessing and nectar of the gods. We have been assembling family and friends since perhaps 1975 to gather fallen apples and to fill jugs and to sip fresh apple juice as an excuse for fall festivities. For those of us in a hurry, vodka brings the fresh juice to a state normally many months away.
After sunset, the wind picked up, delivering almost every form of frozen precipitation against the wall above our bed. This morning, while the wind gave every indication that the air above us wanted to be somewhere else, we appreciated our garage, as we backed out into some half inch of slush.
We're used to early November, and have a saying: Snow on or before Kate's birthday. We have never been disappointed.