At 41 degrees, it felt almost balmy this morning, but boy was it blustery.  The leaves were drifting everywhere, and I scuffed through them on the sidewalks as I headed to Council Point Park.  All I heard was crunch, crunch, crunch under my heavy walking shoes, and I ended up with a few leaf specimens clinging to my wool hat once I got home.

It seems strange that some maples and oaks have lost no leaves, nor have they even begun to turn those glorious colors we so enjoy in Autumn, while other trees are now completely bare,  just like my neighbor’s tree that dropped all its leaves in one day.  My small ornamental maple has not turned red, nor lost a single leaf.  The first year it was planted, the nursery suggested plucking any remaining leaves from the branches before wrapping it up to protect it from the harsh Winter weather.  So, there I stood, stripping leaves from each branch, before swaddling that tiny tree in burlap from top to toe, er roots.  It survived that first Winter and 31 more Winters since then.

Leaves littered the asphalt path and grassy areas at the Park and the wily wind was whipping those remaining leaves straight from the trees and scattering them everywhere.  At least the pavement was dry and provided good walking weather, which is more than I can say for this afternoon, since it has been raining steadily here for hours now.

It’s still a scant crowd at the Park these days, human-wise anyway.  The squirrels were out in full force, begging and posing for peanuts.  I was happy to oblige them and took an extra Ziploc bag with me to ensure I didn’t short any of them.

As of today, my miles walked for 2017 tally 875.   I am excited that this is 120 miles over my original goal, so my next mini-goal is 900 miles.  900 miles or bust!!!  I think 900 miles is easy-peasy and then I’ll shoot for 955 miles for year end.  With six weeks left in the year, that seems doable, but … it is Michigan after all.