Autumn in New York

On my walk to the train, I passed a truck full of pumpkins that was parked outside my grocery store. There was a man inside the truck who passed a pumpkin to a man standing on the sidewalk who then passed the pumpkin to a man who put it in a shopping cart. It didn't seem like a terribly efficient way to unload a truck full of pumpkins, but it made me smile outloud and to myself.

Lately I've been drinking a lot of cider beer, and it's made me feel quite festive. Cider beer at the Renissance Faire. Cider beer outside at my local watering hole. Cider beer with candlelit dinner and friends. It makes me wonder if this sudden craving is caused by the changing season, the way that summertime makes me listen to country music, and spring makes me want to cut my hair.

This will be my 26th autumn, my second in New York, and my first in Brooklyn. I don't know how many more autumns I'll have in Brooklyn or in New York or even at all, but I plan to enjoy every chilly, yellow, crisp moment of the fall surrounding me now. I hope it lasts. I hope I last.

My favorite fall picture (11/2008)