Autumnal Equinox

Okay, not a bad start to fall. This morning sky on the first day of autumn was definitely worth pulling off the road to catch.
The autumnal equinox marks the point in the year when the sun crosses the equator and the hours of daylight and darkness are equal. Technically, in our time zone, it will occur a few minutes after midnight tonight.
It seemed like an appropriate time for my first official post on this site.
It’s the time the reds become predominant – staghorn sumac, Virginia creeper, cannas.
The Druids used to burn a wicker human figure as a symbolic sacrifice of the spirit of vegetation. I like that recognition of the cyclic nature of life – birth, death, rebirth.
I even made my first batch of cranberry applesauce this afternoon to mark the new season. I think it may have been the smell of apples and cinnamon simmering that prompted mystic Dame Julian of Norwich to say, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”