As I write on Tuesday afternoon, I wait unhappily for the impending northeaster. I am planning a road trip on Wednesday out to western Massachusetts to see Violet perform in a symphony orhcestra. We will see if the boats are resuming by morning.

I will say that we actually could use some rain. I know that much of the northeast has been water-logged of late, but not so much here on the Vineyard.

I’ve been moving some perennials around and the ground is bone dry. I read in an old book entitled The Gardener’s Bed Book that it is an abhorrence to the earth to freeze dry. We don’t use the word abhorrence much of these days. Such a pity: it certainly applies to much of our world today!

For years, I have brought in geraniums for the winter. I yank them out of the ground, cut them back with no mercy, and pot them up. I leave them in an unheated back room with barely any attention and they come back in the spring. My great-grandmother, Mary Armstrong, called them magic plants. She hung them upside down in the basement and replannted them every spring.

This is the same woman who lived with my mother, her parents and siblings for years. She lived a long life and I knew her in my childhood. My mother told me that Mum forced the children to dig that basement one summer. It had beams holding back the dirt and always was damp and scary. There was a cistern filled with rain water that my grandmother used to wash clothing. So much for the good old days!

How I digress!

Recently, while traveling Lambert’s Cove Road, I enjoyed the fall colors surrounding Cranberry Acres. I hope some remain after the big wind storm that is threatening.

Some of the best fall color comes from poison ivy and bittersweet. It figures. I strongly suggest not cutting either for arrangements. Bittersweet berries will regrow in the compost.

Not one to ever waste food, I have a new favorite. About six weeks ago, I planted some radishes. They are salad-ready in short time. They got away from me and many were pingpong ball-size and much too strong tasting for my liking. I sauteed them in butter for supper. They were great, tasted like a combination of turnips and cabbage.

I always enjoy Op Eds in The New York Times by Nashville’s Margaret Renkl. She writes about Southern gardens, natural history and the environment.

On Tuesday, she wrote an unflattering expose on leaf blowers. She calls them the most maddening of all the environmental hazards of lawn “care.”

I’m sure if yoy are a longtime reader of this column, you know how I feel about the subject. She says a two-stroke gasoline-powered leaf blower spews out more than a 6,200-pound Ford F-150 SUT Raptor pick-up truck, according to a 2011 study.

Since we are on the subject of the environment, I cannot let any more time go by without some disparaging remarks about West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin. His willingness to kill the Biden climate change agenda is both laughable and absurd. The flooding in West Virginia as a result of climate change and mountaintop coal mining is worse than most other states.

At present, there are only 12,000 coal miners in West Viginia that he supposedly is trying to protect. We know it is his own finances at risk with his coal company ties. Perhaps we should start a Go Fund Me for him.

Even better, let's all chip in and pay the 12,000 coal workers to find other jobs. Seems worth a donation or even some tax dollars to save the planet!