To October

To the year turning toward darkness—and the quietness that that brings.

To a month of zero holidays—except Halloween (which isn't for family, it's for me and for you).

To all the food from the harvest—alien squash with bulges and warts, tomatoes of red, yellow and orange, potatoes still shrouded in the dirt they grew in ...

To backlit clouds and brilliant-blue days with the sun in your eyes.

To wild storms that whip the trees and then depart quietly in the night.

To new serial TV shows and the rainy Sundays for watching them.

To hard cider.

To change.