saints' day, it is today, but really, tomorrow is the big one, souls' day, or day of the dead. i'll explain why in a minute. the pictures below are representative of the beauty of the world, this time of year - absolutely the most beautiful time in the year. i get a little introspective with the cold, and love the gusts of cold air bringing in the new winter.

yesterday, halloween, it snowed on the mountain. wet, windy, rainy snow, hovering at about freezing, making it difficult to drive or get around. we're worried about the fireplace, because it seems the other night something caught on fire at the top, and it blew ashes and sparks all over the neighborhood and caused me to be a little bit on guard for catching the neighborhood on fire. i didn't. but now, we're worried about starting another roaring one.

halloween is candy day. kids are on way too much sugar and can easily put down five to ten of them before you're onto them. the parade, luckily, was cancelled; the weather was too bad. down in the valley, high school kids are just as bad. they'll sneak out, get whole two-liters, put them down, and then be just totally berserk as long as they can.

today it's quieter. but saints' day is dedicated to the idea that some people just make it straight into heaven on account of being in with the powers that be. they are just so automatically good that there's no doubt. i don't really believe this. i think even the best of the best had doubt, and they didn't live out lives of perfection, though i'm sure they did better than i'm doing. but no, i don't believe in two tiers of people, the good and the rest of us.

tomorrow, however, we pray for the souls of those who are caught in between. that, in my book, is everyone. day of the dead means, pray for the souls of those who died, who you don't know made it. in my book, i don't know that anyone made it. to me, it's the holiday of holidays. pray for all the souls, dead or alive, children or grown.

the colors stuck around this year; they are still blazing especially about halfway down the mountain. some elk live down there, in a field right off the highway, and if the highway's not too busy or icy, i'll crane my neck over and try to see them. fact is, though, i generally come down, and then go back up, at the busiest of times. for a few days i came down early; then, i saw them. now, i'm coming down on time, and they're long gone. they were beautiful, and the rust-colored leaves and fields, and the grasses behind them; they were beautiful too. it reminded me how good it is, to be in the mountains.

but now the snow has descended, up at the top, and i'm unprepared. left the house today with just enough time to get to work, and had to put five or ten minutes into scraping, and even that wasn't enough. down the tiny hill to the highway, i pulled over again to do some more minimal scraping. my knuckles froze. i was using an old tech id from my days in texas.

down closer to the valley, mine is the only car with snow and ice on it. i look around hoping to see the bighorn sheep they released a few days ago, into the dry mountains up against alamo. no sheep around. i saw an old coyote out there one day, and i've seen some other things, but no bighorn yet. if they're smart, they're staying away from the cars. sending a single scout to find good grazing grounds, and staying away from both the people and the lions. it's a delicate world out there, and now it freezes, rains, snows, freezes again. makes me wonder about their timing. the sheep will be ok, though. all they have to do is find a home, catch on, be a community.

early november, my favorite time. i don't care so much for the election stuff, though this year it's finally going our way. the tide will turn, though it may take a while, and eventually, if someone's a stark-raving mad lunatic idiot, it just won't be our problem.