It's Too Darn Hot for November

Ah, November...cooler nights, cool and clear days. Not so this year...hot and smokey from fires; too warm in the evenings and still warm in the night. Windows are still open and jamies are tank tops. Flowers not due to bloom until April are sprouting in my untended garden and the poppies are still coming up.
But, the leaves are slowly turning red and not falling by choice but by the winds that are forcing them to leave their branches. Not fair! A leaf needs to stay as long as it can, hoping to be the last one left, a survivor of spring and summer, a dreamer of springs to come.
The grass is becoming that dry, straw color of an empty house, waiting for water, for fertilizer, for someone to care about it. I care but I cannot stop time and seasons so that the grass could stay green any more that I can stop wrinkles and gray hair. And, as I could medicate my face and color my hair, I could fertilize the grass and force it to green up but why? To make beautiful again what has faded? Or to mess with nature and make it what I want?
Tomorrow will begin again with a cup of coffee, a newspaper, a list of what needs to be done, and a glance out at the flowers that linger still and the grass that has chosen not to.