November 01, 2004

Later, October.

I wish I had been born in October. I was born at the end of August, but I was born several weeks early and should have graced the world with my whining in mid-to-late-September. October is my favorite month, and I'm sad that it's over so quickly. I got to the state park and out of doors a bit early on, but it got humid, hot and grey after the second half of the month. I wish I got outside more this October, at least to sit on my balcony and watch the sunset over some coffee or tea or beer. That photo is of dried leaves on my balcony at sunset this past Saturday. Here is one of my favorite Thoreau essays, for your reading pleasure: "Autumnal Tints." The essay speaks for itself, and it contains one of my favorite Thoreau quotations, which I have on a coffee cup I bought at The Shop at Walden Pond in October of 2001 (did I mention this mug before?): "October is the month of painted leaves. Their rich glow now flashes round the world. As fruits and leaves and the day itself acquire a bright tint just before they fall, so the year near its setting. October is its sunset sky; November the later twilight."

1 comment:

Alcarwen said...

Thomas Merton said of October: "October is a fine and dangerous season in America... a wonderful time to begin anything at all." But then there is that folklore thing about October's child being "the child of woe"...hmm...

October is by far my favorite month too... and not just b/c I had the good luck to be born into it. I was driving up through Maryland last weekend and trying to figure out why. I think it's the change... as if suddenly the world appears cleaner when the the cold approaches... and the riot of fall colors just makes the world look less uniform, less normal. And I like that. The difference for those few weeks makes me look at the world as an entirely new place.... more so than spring does, I guess.

That's a great photo, btw. Good stuff. :)