It is Tuesday, October 28, 2025 – a mere three days from Hallowe’en on Friday, October 31st.

Halloween the night of 31 October, the eve of All Saints’ Day, often celebrated by children dressing up in frightening masks and costumes. Halloween is thought to be associated with the Celtic festival Samhain, when ghosts and spirits were believed to be abroad; origin late 18th century: contraction of All Hallow Even

I mention the children’s affair not because we’ve any similar plans of our own; rather because the looming lapse of October recalls the  change that is coming. As importantly, recognition of the date also provokes a gratitude for the unspeakably lovely weather we’ve had throughout this prolonged season – and it is an advantage forecast for yet another day. In short it’s been a grand autumn! Friends from Toronto reported equal autumnal magnificence on a recent tour they took together. The huge cloudless azure dome has spread across the province.

There are other relevant acknowledgments beyond the weather. Perhaps because of the weather I am disposed to a favourable account of things. Whatever. There is value in recording the good times. The copper coloured leaves sweeping across the streets in town were reminiscent of my younger – and decidedly more nimble – days in undergraduate studies at Glendon Hall, careering down Avenue Road to Yorkville Avenue. Swapping afternoon lies on Jarvis Street at a pub with Lorraine Fry and other notables.

It was quite impossible, while regarding the brilliant countryside during my afternoon tootle, not to be impressed by the sudden change of the environment.  One could pierce through the shoreline trees to the glistening river. Most of the trees are now bare, their forceful branches of dull grey sticking into the sky. Other trees retained their leaves. They too have their individuality. But the predictable fashion for the upcoming season is dénué.

Last evening – long after darkness had begun – we watched the bright white lights and heard the distant grinding sound of farm machinery as local harvesting continued. The cornstalks from here to the horizon have been gathered in.  The latest ceremony was conducted under our noses before noon today. We shall hereafter rely upon a stricter demoralized image of the earth until next summer. Or the first snow.

There is yet another reason beyond the weather to celebrate. Avoiding the vulgarity of my personal domestic circumstances, permit me at least to say we’ve gotten things in order too. It surprises me how complicated our lives become when involved with change – and that includes aging. It may be because the most trifling matter is an annoyance. When the complication dissipates things fall into place. My confessed impatience heightens the vitality.

Meanwhile – what goes in, comes out – I am caught in a shallow reflection upon my past, distilling, discharging and replacing. I don’t need shoes or socks; pants or smalls; shirts or sweaters; hats or coats. The material world is at last exposed for the simplicity that it is! I question why the younger attraction? Was my materialism a psychological affliction?  Or – as I preferred to depict –  was it a complement to art? My artistic yearning is largely gone except for the inescapable smugness pour ça qui existe! I am defeated in this improvement by the continued mooring to what have become annual “transitions” designed to capture the inevitability of technology.

After these several contemplations I am no closer to explaining what came before.  It is an indisputable conundrum. I will accordingly leave that meditation to you, dear Reader, should you care to pursue it. For my part, I shall instead content myself with my favourite music, sitting on the balcony in the sunshine, doing what I repeatedly do (age has excused me of the insignificance). Today I reflected upon our new acquaintances from Nova Scotia; Rosedale rose garden and Poplar Plains Road in Forest Hill, Toronto; drifting by the Ocean along A1A in Florida. I attempted to dissect the arguments of “thoughtful political commentary” on Sirius XM Patriot radio (though with nothing more self-evident than the confession of the need for each party to sit down at table with the other.  Apparently there is too much to gain by preserving the  “complication”. Publicly admitting to the tolerance of poverty and ignorance is a mantle unbefitting the autocrat on either side. Nonetheless the marrow of the bone is protected from the stench and acidity of commoners. We remain so close to making money and protecting our family values.  And don’t forget to tout the religious angle!  Plus the machinery of war. There is no entitlement!