Fall Leaves in Summer

You would never know it is the middle of summer when you walk through the neighborhood park. With all of the extreme heat and storms, something has happened to the leaves on the trees. When walking under the shade of the trees along the path in the park it feels like fall. Everything was wet and the leaves had dropped from the branches much sooner in the year than normal. Perhaps the extreme heat shortened their life cycle and the whipping winds of the rainstorms knocked them all off. It’s been feeling more like Florida here than Virginia with temps in the high 90’s with humidities to match. We also stumbled upon an “agreeable tiger moth” caterpillar that was scurrying across the path to hide under a leaf. He was black and yellow striped and looked a bit harmless. After the deluge it is finally starting to dry out. I don’t want summer to end too soon - who would?