An Autumn Evening

The soft glow of streetlamps filters through the trees still carrying almost their full canopies of leaves. Further south autumn colors are at their peak, it will be a couple of weeks before it is our turn to be, once again, treated to this annual dazzling display of nature. This year, due to unseasonable high temperatures and scant rain, some leaves have been burned. They fall to the ground, dry and withered, a dusty brown. But as I look out from my 9th floor kitchen window or travel through the city I see the first splashes of yellow, red and orange. Despite the warmth the fountains have been turned off, put into hibernation in anticipation of the season ahead. The sun has moved further south in the sky, it's light slanting in from an angle instead of streaming down from straight above as it does in the summer. Even the most sunny and temperate of afternoons are now bracketed by cool mornings, evenings and nights. Many claim fall as their favorite season. Time can languish in the summer. In autumn you can feel it moving ahead. Soon there will be the merriment of the holiday season, when you can find solace from the occasional chaos of the world by celebrating and being surrounded by family and friends.