Way back -- or was that just the other day? -- on the first day of October, my facebook friend Robert Kurtz posted: "Considering how quickly September came and went, I think I'll just wish everyone a happy November." Now, here it is -- the last day already. Can we hold on to October for a few more days? No, we cannot. In a few short hours November begins. Robert was right!
I've been repeating his words all month long to various people, for I knew exactly how he felt (see Out of Reach & Fast Away & Time Flies). Godspeed October! Hail November!
No matter how lovely each September is, it's nearly always a sure thing that October will be even moreso! Although the transition might happen upon us more quickly than we expect, we never feel too sorry to see September give way to October. However, it seems that everyone would like to live in October just a bit longer if we could. I guess that's why I'm so enchanted by the way that the following two writers have both captured the sense that October is not so much a month as it is a place. I couldn't agree more!
always with autumn colors in the background,
as if the school were based not in a town
but in a month, October (81).
from Gone Girl
by Gillian Flynn
************
October Country . . . that country where it is always turning late in the year. That country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger, and midnights stay. That country composed in the main of cellars, sub-cellars, coal-bins, closets, attics, and pantries faced away from the sun. That country whose people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts. Whose people passing at night on the empty walks sound like rain.
by Ray Bradbury*
Alongside Our Driveway
for the Bradbury quotation!
P.S. HAPPY HALLOWEEN
See also my Fortnightly post: "Let Them All In"
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