Falling in Autumn

“Fall is here, it’s really here!”

Love, love, love. Absolutely perfect weather, brisk, a bit windy, but still sunny – like … biting into a refreshingly juicy, crunchy apple, bare feet on cool tiles, being awoken by a live ensemble in the morning.

Autumn is my favorite season. A lot of people like fall too, probably for similar reasons: the sense of change, the weird feeling of being restless and content at once, the spirit of homeyness and harvest plentiful, and all the beautiful colors around.

November (the soul of autumn, my birthday, Thanksgiving!) and December (early winter while its still pretty/not bleak and of course, CHRISTMAS!) are my favorite months ever. May would be second, I think.

Even skeletons merrily attempt to catch butterflies! It’s the last chance till spring to spot butterflies. I just saw a huge monarch today on a bush right outside Healy Gates, in fact; it was a gorgeous specimen.

(Side note: if I were a kid, I would definitely want to go trick-or-treating at Boo at the Zoo! The Smithsonian National Zoological Park definitely knows how to stage its spooky exhibits!)

Tigers also blend in with the fall palette with their orange and black stripes. So chic!

Tiger, tiger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

A dose of William Blake couldn’t hurt.

I love autumn, the national zoo, happy skeletons, butterflies, tigers, and poetry. And so concludes my ode to my latest loves, a prelude to my ultimate thanksgiving list perhaps (work in progress)!