It took me a few weeks to gather my courage to face cleaning up the garden for winter.

It was such a dismal failure that going out there put me in such a state of sadness, I avoided setting foot in it for quite a while.

But during the last two days, I mustered enough emotional and physical energy to tackle the job.

One of the only good things to come of it was I did find a few potatoes.

I'm thinking potato soup is in my future.

Anyway, it took me two days to get it all finished and it's been a relief to get it off my mind and my heart. Perhaps I am identifying too much with it. But then again, we suffered too. With days on end of 100 degree temperatures, and two close forest fires that filled the sky with smoke for weeks and weeks. I think I'm still recovering from that. The pitiful garden just brought it into sharp focus how much damage was done.

I removed two huge and unwieldy cartloads of dead and dying plants to the burn pile. The deer have been sorting through it in a desultory way, not finding much nourishment I'm sure.

The only thing left growing besides some flowers, are two beds of carrots that are struggling along. Perhaps the cooler weather will encourage them to continue.

Perhaps it will do the same for me.

I could use more than a few cool breezes and rainstorms to revive my mind and my soul.

Still waiting on that.