Fall is a great time of the year. I am not sure which I prefer, spring or fall, but regardless, there is a special quality to fall. The weather is cooler, the colors are brilliant, the atmosphere more lucid and stunning. Gone are the hot and heavy days of summer, and yet there is still enough light left during the day, and warmth in the air to make the time pleasant. October is a month particularly rich in warmth and colors. It begins with the late summer still lingering, (Indian Summer, as we used to call it), and ends with the strange festivities of Halloween. We are still quite a ways from that ritual, but not too early enough to appreciate the dark and orangey hues with which it tends to be associated. Fall in general, and October in particular, seem to emanate with such light.

Then soon enough the first frost will come and the signs of the impending winter, but until those darker days arrive we can still appreciate some of the beauty that the mild and gentle October brings.