October is a month for taking stock, its waning light and colder air kindling an appreciation for the season so suddenly behind us. It's also a month to appreciate in its own right, for its gifts of apple cider, for the windfall of an Indian Summer day after a chilling frost.

Above all, we can love October for its crisp air, especially when the Island wind is from the northwest on a bright fall morning and in the amazing absence of haze the very concept of distance seems to lose all meaning. Everything is right here, right now, and in the quieter pace that comes to the Island in this twilight of the autumn season, we can find some portion of the peace that is evident in the natural world around us.