An October Beginning
Cooler mornings, apple picking, and the familiar feeling of a new school year.
By the middle of October, the cooler mornings have settled in here in the DMV. School is underway, the High Holy Days have passed, and the weekends still offer some time outside before the cold arrives. I like this part of the year.
Apple picking belongs to the season for me. An afternoon in an orchard is a good reason to get out of the usual routine, walk around, and come home with something to eat. The photograph above catches some of what I like about it: sunlight through the leaves, apples underfoot, and time spent outside.
Fall still feels connected to school, too. A new book and a fresh timetable carry a particular kind of anticipation. Even as an adult, I find that feeling stays with me. The year has been going for months, yet September and October have their own sense of a beginning.
Yehuda Amichai's poem "Problem in a Math Book" makes me think of going back to school. He begins with a familiar problem about two trains and follows it into questions about meeting, consequence, and looking back at a life. I like the way a classroom exercise can stay with someone and acquire a different meaning over time.