What a difference a day can make. Yesterday the wind was gusty, lusty, and warm, ripping the orange and brown leaves from maples outside the window next to my desk. The downdrafts over the maple’s canopy created arcs clear of leaves around the trunk’s base. Here’s the view:

 

 
But today, almost exactly 24 hours after the photo above was taken, General Winter is marching through here in the northern Adirondack foothills. No biking for me today on the heavy wet snow. With luck, though, this early season snow will melt in a day or so and the monochrome landscape will be much brighter. Meanwhile, this is what I’ll see when I look up from the computer display: