My personal favorite month is just about over. It has found me taking 856 photos so far this month (as of this day and time of morning).

It is a time of year when nature starts preparing for winter. Animals fatten up (including me), the sugars in leaves make for admirable fall colors, kids seem to get more energetic with cool days and chilly nights. You gotta love it.

The month starts out with high school  football and homecomings. A wonderful, spirited time of year where small communities come together to support their local schools. A few alumni might also find time to come back and reaquaint with friends and family.

Churches, farmers markets, and roadside entrepeneurs begin to sell their fall bounty of vegetable and fruits…most notably pumpkins in Texas (I also like the apple crops you get further north).

People get a unusal sense about them. They just might become a bit more giving, perhaps jovial. Probably because the brutal weather of the late summer months is over and fall brings its welcomed relief. Regardless of the reasons, some folks start to go to extraordinary lengths to spread their good will to others. Take it in people – then try to give some back if you can. Be thankful of good fortune and feel-good finds that bring smiles to kids and grown-ups alike. Dream and fantasize, but do remember where you parked, when out and about, and when close to the stroke of midnight.

Man and beast enjoy beautiful weather, many times not knowing exactly what to wear…so they wear both summer and fall clothes when getting out and about.

People start liking exercise again, and they bring their dogs.  And if they don’t bring their dogs, they bring their friends. They run for fun…they run to raise money for “The Spirit of Christmas” – again with an apparent generosity feeling brought on by good people and cooler months that can, and will benefit the physical well-being of lesser priviledged, as well as the emotional health of those with the abundances to share.

And there are days when it’s just good to be breathing. You thank a higher power and learn to appreciate that which really is beyond your control.  Those fall-finds that you happen across are what delivers joy to the heart and a smile to the face. You realize these butterflies and bees came calling (and showing off) almost to the day, last year. It also makes you want to plant whatever it is to have that all happen again next year, and the next year, and the year after that.

Nature’s meanness becomes welcomed – they’re not so bad after all. Their sole purpose is to survive in this cruel world, and they seem to enjoy the weather of the season as much as we do. It’s a time of year when even I might consider tolerance of a snake’s right to live and be close enough to scare the wholly living beegeebers out of me…well maybe we all have our line to draw somewhere, sometime.

The lateness of the month brings yet cooler nights and brisk mornings. You can find the outdoor living starting to hunker down. Trees begin to speak louder each day, warning those willing, and smart enough to listen and heed their voices that something cool is about to happen soon (and they better bring a jacket).

It happens without discrimination. Cool weather in the urban environment rattles those outdoor livers  just like it does for creatures and plants in more natural areas.

Even in Texas, as short-lived as it might be most years, the changing of leaves can be worthy to note. If nature keeps the sudden cold fronts at bay and allows the season to “chill out” at a steady pace, we have elms, oaks, and ash that can show us their true colors, wanting all the appreciation one has to offer. I know it’s not New England, nor is it the Upper Midwest, but it is Texas and we welcome any season changing cinema we can get this time of year.

November is up next. The chill usually brings a bitterness to the air. But then we all start thinking out that next big holiday…where we can all gather to eat a certain bird, and talk about what a great October we all just had. I might even share a few hundred of my photos if the family will let me.

Early seasons greetings to y’all. We have them all year-long.

This posting is dedicated to the memory of Brodie the Scottie. OFSIL SueB lost her Brodie yesterday – a proud dog that upheld the breed standard and brought joy and smiles to everyone he met. He was everyone’s October. Now, rest well dear Brodie.