In my preparations for the trip to Zagreb tomorrow morning, this afternoon I went to the garden to check the three fig trees growing there. I planted them for my beloved the last spring, and she may well ask me about their progress. Not surprisingly, they have already shed their leaves, for it is getting pretty cold already. I actually removed the last leaf from one of them. It was ready to fall off, anyway. But I am worried about buds I have found on all the fledgling trees. There are many buds on each of them. Chances are that they will sprout long before the next spring, for the figs seem to figure it is spring already. What will happen if there is some frost or even a few days of snow? It is hard to tell, but the fig trees could be clobbered one way or another. The only hope is that they, too, are learning about climate change as they go. And figs are famous for their obduracy. They can survive almost anything, including many a trick that humans have used against them. Come to think of it, perhaps the budding figs actually presage a mild winter, if the term still makes any sense. Indeed, they may be telling me to assure my beloved that the weather will be just to her liking this winter among winters, for she is freezing most of the time, let alone when it is really cold. The figs’ fiery foresight will be quite to her liking, no doubt whatsoever.