Leaves and Rain

Once again, the seasons turn the colors of the leaves. It's a bountiful year for acorns. A mast year, it's called.  So many acorns!  So many varieties of  oak trees. 

Autumnal thoughts. change and the impermanence of things. the gardens in their overgrown splendor and ruin. Thoughts turn to next spring, planting crocus bulbs, moving peonies.  The hope of next spring lilacs.

Next year's calendars are already here, on display alongside the Halloween decorations and candy.   

The new moon and the eclipse of October 14 has passed.  It was overcast in Chicago unfortunately, but there are  marvelous photos online. Here are some, from Space. com.

The moon is a waxing crescent now, visible in the evening sky. The next full moon will be on October 28. the Hunter's Moon, and a partial lunar eclipse!

This is the Ghost Season, the  haunted season of pumpkins and skeletons, witches and spider webs. We are spooked by plastic bags that could be ghosts, the creak of a gate, footsteps in the dark. 

We are haunted by past Octobers, by leaves and rain. We are haunted too, by history, by plagues and wars.