Now it is raining heavily, and thunderclaps are loud and clear, but the day started with a distant and intermittent rumble. I was woken by sounds of furniture being moved around my house, which alarmed me at first. Then I remembered my close neighbors were leaving for Austria sometime today. They must be loading their car, I thought. Half-awake, I was almost happy when I lit upon this explanation of the strange sounds. Then I realized they could not be preparing to leave for so long. Besides, luggage is luggage, while the rumbling suggested loads much bulkier and heavier. Is there a truck being loaded someplace near my house? At long last it dawned on me that it was distant thunder that woke me up. When I got up and opened the shutters of my bedroom, I could clearly see lightning in the hills around Grožnjan to my right. Soon enough, the storm took the hills around Vižinada to my left, as well. The two towns are within ten kilometers of Motovun. In an hour or so the storm was here, and the rumbling turned into banging and cracking. The Fall is nigh, I am afraid.