A couple of weather events set me back on my heels this past week. For starters, the windy few days totally stripped the lovely fall leaves from my large sugar maple. I barely had a few days to enjoy its seasonal glory.

The worst, though, was last Saturday night’s cold. My big vegetable garden is in a frost pocket and froze. The leaves of winter squashes and pumpkins were black.

I was able to get one more picking from my late-planted green beans. Just the top leaves were frosted and the beans were still okay. I may have mentioned in the past but Provider is, by far, the best green bean. It is string-less, easy to pick and a heavy producer. Since I planted them in early August and they take a mere 50 days, I was able to harvest plenty for canning and for friends. The really good news was that not a single pest bothered them. When I plant too early, they seem to attract the hideous Mexican bean beetle.

My Kentucky wonder pole bean also was free of pests this year. That is a great, hardy, all-purpose bean. It also produces like crazy. One small package will keep a person in green, shell and dried beans for months.

There is a nice abelia hedge on South Summer street in Edgartown. I never thought to use that summer blooming shrub as a hedge. It’s very nice and still blooming. There is a sweet little patch of fall blooming crocuses right before Polly Hill, between the arboretum and the Agricultural Hall.

How about the dahlias on the Edgartown Road past Skiff avenue? Some are almost head-sized. Dahlias really come into their own in October. Too bad they do not last long in an arrangement. I find changing the water daily and snipping a bit from the stem helps keep them a few more days.

The Pee Gee hydrangeas are down right spectacular now, especially Tardiva. I’m not so crazy about the large white Annabelles. They tend to brown too soon. One good thing, however, is that they can be cut right to the ground and will be back nicely in the spring.

I had some years-old winter squash seeds kicking around. I planted them with no expectations. Sure enough, they germinated and took off. One that I had never used before was the star of the patch. The Green Striped Cushaw is a crook neck with white skin and mottled green stripes. I have a dozen or so very large species—some more than 10 pounds. Hopefully, I will spend a day preparing and canning them before they rot in the pantry and take the finish off the floor.

Donald Trump will probably be reelected. After all, he cheats. The whole last week of news is so sad and depressing that I’ve indulged in my favorite fantasy. He and Mike Pence are removed and the next in line, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, becomes Commander-in-Chief. She could right the ship in no time.

A quote from The Madwoman of Chaillot: “There is nothing wrong with the world that a sensible woman could not settle in an afternoon.”

Back to the real world. How about that Jimmy Carter? Ninety five years old, 14 stitches in his head and a black eye, yet he’s off to Nashville to build Habitat for Humanity houses. A decent real Christian man, he put on his cardigan and turned down the thermostat in the White House. He installed solar panels on the “People’s House” which Ronald Reagan removed.

After his (sadly) one term, he has devoted his life to serving others. Besides Habitat, he took on curing river blindness in Africa. When he gets to the Pearly Gates, Jesus will take his hand and say, “Jimmy, well done!”