Now the seasons have really changed. The leaves will soon be all off the trees except the rich red oaks. The frost has taken most of summer’s garden, Election Day has come and gone, and the holidays loom just ahead.

Winter chores are the norm. Changing tires to accommodate winter’s snow – checking the anti-freeze in cars; putting the snow shovel close by and a bucket of sand near the steps. Brisk days soon make the summer heat a memory. There is time for a few more hikes and walks in the woods, before they are covered with a white mantle. Why do we so easily forget the discomfort of summer as we grab a few more hours of autumn?

“The best laid plans of mice and men” – and women! Shortly after I finished last week’s column I went off quite suddenly to the hospital where I spent the last week. More tests – more surgery and more time to reflect on how really we humans are dependent upon fate! I am home again and so glad to be here to watch the next act in birdland play out.

It isn’t only my yard that has a huge influx of songbirds eating their way through each day. A gentleman from Newtown called me the very hour I returned home, sounding quite frantic. He, too, is quite floored by the number of songbirds at his feeders, as well as the amount of feed they are consuming. It is evident that he will require help from someone to keep the feeders filled while he is away at work in the city. It is to his credit that he is trying to plan a way to keep the birds fed.

The very same gentleman is apparently the victim of that late summer problem when people who have fed and enjoyed a cat for the vacation season leave and abandon it hoping it will find itself a new home. I told him about “Animals for Life,” which may be able to help him find a home for his weekend cat. It has made itself at home and he has provided food and shelter but cannot go away every once in a while and abandon it.

These problems are with us forever and if it were not for the good hearted volunteers who spend time, money, and love, on such problems, it would be a bleak life for many small animals.

I had planned to call the folks at the Audubon center to see whether they have any thoughts about this sudden bird population explosion. It is happening in Vermont, too. Daughter Laurie came down to be with me a few days and reported on her empty feeders at home, each night when she returns from work. I think the birds know more about what’s the reason than we do. For years they have been quite accurately reporting to me when a snow storm is on the way.

A note from former Newtown resident Joan Sondergoard tells of her latest venture in her new home up in Richmondville, N.Y., where a historical society is being formed. Joan was a motivating force in the Monroe Society when she lived in Newtown, and Richmondville is most fortunate to have her.

Comes that time when parents are relinquishing control of things, and their offspring take over. It happens suddenly. The other night when some very nice men in the Ambulance Association were trying to talk me into getting on the gurney in my living room, and I wasn’t interested, Ed came over and said “Ma, get on the gurney.” Five short words, and life turned around. I got on the gurney!

The quotation last week was one for Halloween – “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe.

Who said “It is the friends you can call up at 4 am who matter”?