Autumnal Equinox

Today is the first day of fall, the autumnal equinox, where the sun is directly above the equator and the length of day and night are nearly equal. The autumnal equinox occurred early this morning at 3:09 UTC, Coordinated Universal Time. But here in America, the equinox occurred last night, at 11:09 on the East Coast. There will be a full harvest moon tonight; check it out--those of you blessed with clear skies this evening.,

On this day in 1852, 24-year-old Tolstoy wrote in his diary: "Went for a ride with the dogs, had a dull time, slept, killed a pheasant, considered the scheme of my novel, and began to write the same. Must make an effort to overcome indolence."
For those Tolstoy freaks out there, rent a copy of THE LAST STATION, for Christopher Plummer makes a dashing and charismatic Tolstoy, and Helen Mirren is brilliant as the countess.

Nathaniel Hawthorne said, "I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house."

The foliage has been losing its freshness through the month of August, and here and there a yellow leaf shows itself like the first gray hair amidst the locks of a beauty who has seen one season too many. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes


Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. ~Albert Camus


For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together. For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad. ~Edwin Way Teale


It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life. ~P.D. James


Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter. ~Carol Bishop Hipps


Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. ~George Eliot


No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds - November!
~Thomas Hood, "No!"


Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all. ~Stanley Horowitz


No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace
As I have seen in one autumnal face.
~John Donne


Besides the autumn poets sing,
A few prosaic days
A little this side of the snow
And that side of the haze.
~Emily Dickinson


October's poplars are flaming torches lighting the way to winter. ~Nova Bair


falling leaves
hide the path
so quietly
~John Bailey, "Autumn," a haiku year, 2001, as posted on oldgreypoet.com


October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came -
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,
And leaves of every name.
The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band.
~George Cooper, "October's Party"


Youth is like spring, an over praised season more remarkable for biting winds than genial breezes. Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits. ~Samuel Butler


Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn. ~Elizabeth Lawrence