A Gallery of Photos: A New England October

A pair of tame(ish) yearlings that eat windfalls from my apple tree.

Okay, so October's very probably my favorite month.  And then November, just around the corner, is noted for its lowered light (so that the afternoon seems to be a perpetual 2:30) plus its time change plunging us into early evenings that can be dark by 4:30.  In addition to this approaching low-angling sunlight most of the afternoon, there seems a cleanliness to the season.  As if the detritus is rising to the top to be skimmed off.  The humidity and tourists are gone.  The trimming crews are finishing up, getting the last wires cleared of invading branches.  The cyclone of the holidays hasn't yet hit.  Nor the winter storms.  And with the migrating birds, the changing colors and now-sparkling air, plus that low angling afternoon sunlight, there is an appeal to the day.

One year at this time, my daughter sent an email I kept because it seemed evocative.  "Yesterday as I was leaving the woods I saw a V of geese flying over so low that I could hear their wings rustle as they moved.  The rising sun made their bellies glow orange.  Pretty cool."

A month ago, she welcomed autumn with these words:  "Here's to days of jackets, leaves, cider, Bach, stew, pies, jack o' lanterns, clouds scudding across the blue blue sky, school routines, new books, darker evenings, costumes, boots, crafts."

Yes, here's to October ... with November's low light soon to follow.

Typical town scene

We mustn't forget it's also harvest time when people used to fill their root cellars for winter eating.

Leaves, leaves, plus their shadows mixed with pointillistic sunlight.  (This is the coffee man at Saturday's farmers market.)