I love the change of the seasons, and Autumn holds a special place in my heart. One of the reasons is because in the Northeastern part of the U.S. where I now live the foliage celebrates its final days before Winter with all the majesty and glory of a firework display.
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Another reason why I love Autumn is that the shorter days and longer evenings still catch us off our guard. “It’s almost completely dark out and it’s only 5:00,” I’ll exclaim with surprise and some glee. Nature’s cycles never cease to amaze and delight me.
And our late afternoon activities somehow become more intimate, enveloped in an evening cloak, and illuminated as if by candlelight.
Passing by my local library at dusk, I see the books. I see my fellow readers. Each lit window drawing me in and telling its own narrative.
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The scenes remind me that with the longer evenings comes an invitation to stay inside, to choose a good book, to settle into a comfortable armchair, and to read.
reading interrupted. 
I’m looking forward to having some time to read. Now if I could only make myself turn off this darned computer……
The glow of the computer…. a year long season, right? It will be wonderful to have the darkness of Winter to lull us into even more reading.
(I was just commenting on your blog while you were commenting on mine – odd coincidence!)
I love that you’re almost sneaking in through the windows. Plus, that red on those trees is the only version of that red ever. There is only that red in fall when the trees change, and only certain trees. I love it. Keep sneaking. : )
You’re so right, that red is so specific to autumn – part of the beauty perhaps.
Those photos do feel quite voyeuristic, don’t they?! I did have a good zoom so wasn’t as close as it seems but I was still afraid that one of them was going to turn around and catch me! I did make a point of not photographing their faces though.
I’ll keep sneaking though!
Sometimes that’s what you have to do to really capture the truth of something. I loved these photos. You did a great job! You’re bringing joy to me and others and I’m sure the library-goers wouldn’t mind being photographed reading, learning and being a part of autumn.
Thanks; much appreciated!!
That first photo of the tree is so beautiful! I love fall colors!
Thanks! It was so beautiful that I couldn’t stop taking photos of it. It must have gotten redder from blushing!
haha I like that
🙂
Mmmmmmm. Thank you for a little taste of fall. It’s spring here in Australia, fall is the one thing I’m missing right now.
Ah, Spring…. that unique delicate light green (what we call in French ” vert tendre” – tender green), being able to read outside again… Spring has its own magic (gnomes and all!!)
Love the warm, cosy, fireside quality of your post. And the library looks so friendly and welcoming.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if public libraries had fireplaces? Tough to keep the fire going (as if librarians weren’t busy enough) but your comment got me daydreaming….
You captured the special charm of the season so well, all the reds, even the glow inside the library…. I am going to look at the library in a different way now….
Merci! The library does glow, you are so right!
I expect that these days a fireplace would be a health and safety nightmare in a library 😦
So true. Sigh.
Letizia this post brought a smile to my face, recalling fond memories of hours spent in the library as a young girl . . . and of course, the thought of curling up with a good book as the wind howls and snow flies outside, cup of tea or hot choc (with a dollop of Bailey’s perhaps!) in hand!
Thanks, Kat. I love your image of reading with a warm beverage in hand, wind and snow outside; it makes me eager for the arrival of winter!
That library looks one near me. Do you live in Bergen County?
Anyway, I don’t like the early darkness. It makes me a sluggish and sad. When you add in the winter temperatures, I never want to leave my house.
I don’t live in Bergen County – I guess public libraries all look quite alike though.
I know a lot of people who get a bit sad at this time of year. I know I definitely need to adapt to the transition but I can’t help but feel the magic in the extra hours of nighttime.
The upcoming snow flurries should have us in our homes hibernating for the next couple of days anyway!
Funny.
I guess I am not a night person. I think it if was warm at the same time, it would be easier. Anyway, work wont let me hibernate. I should have been a polar bear.
Short days, but warm out – that would be interesting.
I always wondered – is that how it is in a place like Florida?
You are indeed a kindred spirit. My favourite season is autumn – for me it is the time of new beginnings that I associate with going back to school and staking out my territory at the local library. Even the colours of the foliage seem to have an eager anticipation of winter, their time of rest before the huge transition of springtime. My cupboards have a fresh supply of tea leaves and I am looking for a new tea mug, my way of celebrating.
Your library beckons a weary traveler and your photos allow us to peek in and savour the tantalizing knowledge that there are books waiting for us to embrace. Ah, so many journeys await us in autumn.
“I don’t believe in colleges and universities. I believe in libraries because most students don’t have any money. When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression and we had no money. I couldn’t go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years.” Ray Bradbury
Autumn as a new beginning, yes, I feel that so often. My new year always starts in September with the start of school (although the arrival of Spring also feels like the start of a new year as well. What doesn’t feel like the start of a new year? January. The middle of winter!).
I love your idea of purchasing a new tea mug to celebrate autumn. I should do the same.
Thanks, as always, for your lovely visit!
I will post a photo of my cup once I find the “right” one!!! 🙂 It is always, always, always a pleasure to visit…
Looking forward to seeing your new mug!
Ahhhh, a cozy fire, a book, and—my son would request a dog at his feet. Or a cat on his lap. Thanks for showing us Bay Area folk a bit of fall color. Glorious!
My dog used to sleep at my feet when I worked, but now, with age, she prefers the sofa….
Happy to bring some eastern autumn out west!
The weather man tells me that it is going to snow flurry tonight…time to curl up in my overstuffed reading chair with a good book (hmmmmmm, what shall I pick?). Libraries here aren’t as quiet as they used to be. Evidently it’s okay to talk, and they now have “quiet rooms” which you can reserve if you need peace and quiet. Ugh.
How funny that silence is no longer the norm in some libraries. I guess to stay open and relevant they have to become more like cultural community centers. But like you I love that enforced silenced, those loud whispers, every cough and creaky chair heard throughout the building. Enjoy your book and early snow flurries!
Very nice. They talk about summer reading but what makes good fall reading? I’m reading The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon, and it seems more winter than fall.
I haven’t heard of that book, but love the idea of a winter book versus a fall book. I just finished Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowlands. I’d say it’s a good autumn book – not as literary as her earlier works, but storytelling at its finest so really invites you to want to stay indoors and find out what happens next. Will have to check out Chabon’s book this winter…
Having lived in the tropics for years I do sometimes miss the colors of Autumn, but not the coming cold. The tropics have their own change of seasons, but it takes a sharp eye to notice. Love your picture. You live in a beautiful place, Letizia.
It’s true, Dannie, the seasons are so pronounced here. Two weeks go by and it’s a different universe at times.
I miss seeing the photos of your tropical gardens. I think gardening really helps you see those differences in the seasons, as minute as they might be.
That’s an inviting looking library! And some beautiful trees. We hardly get fall colors like that in Texas–it goes more like green, green, brown, gone.
Hahaha, at least that’s a lot of green first!
That’s a great way of looking at the shorter days – as a chance for more reading and fireside hibernation. It even started to snow here today. I love autumn and the fall colors and your photos have such a feeling of comfort to them. Each peek through the window holds a promise of some kind of illumination, just like each book on the shelves inside.
So many people already seem to be getting snow! Autumn seems to be the shortest season, maybe that’s what makes it so special. I like what you wrote about the windows and the books in the library holding a promise… lovely.
I always look forward to your posts. This one is lovely, as you peek into lives of readers who are enjoying the books around them. I like cuddling up with a good book and a blanket 🙂
Books and a blanket: perfect companions (they should give out blankets at libraries!).
By the time autumn comes I am ready for it. We adore each season but I look forward to the crispness in the air and the return to making wonderful comfort food – lots of casseroles and sews. XX V.
Good point – I love the wonderful food and vegetables of autumn as well!
Nicely observed – I like the reflections of the trees on the glass.
They did get me thinking a bit though. Warm and comfortable yes, and most of us are lucky to be able to access that comfort. But out there right now are so many who can only dream of warmth and shelter and are at the mercy of whatever the seasons will throw at them.
It’s so true, Roy. In these moments of great tragedy, we are reminded of how fortunate we are.
You are so right, Letizia.If only I could have the time and stay away from the computer long enough to read. 🙂
I know, Celestine! We have to find the little moments in the day or the week where we can just sit down with a good book, right?
Sometimes I miss fall. I always miss libraries.
There’s no library near you in Mexico? I thought maybe a little one even in the store where you get your wifi or something.
(Your comment almost sounds like the start of a poem….)
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Terrific pictures. Love libraries! Made me want to cozy up with a book. I do regret not spending more time reading … You’ve inspired me to make it more of a priority! Thanks. 🙂
So glad you liked the photos. I passed by the library a few times during the evening and the warm light from the windows was so inviting that I kept telling myself I had to stop and take some photos one day!
Gorgeous post, gorgeous! Love these pix.
I end up with a girlish crush on autumn every year. After a crazy summer of running amok, I love how mother nature sends me inside to slow down, to reset my mind and body. A warm cup of tea, a blankie, a husband, some cats, and naturally…a good read. It’s lovely.
It is a way to reset, so true. That’s a lovely way of putting it. Resetting and recharging….
Those photos of the library windows are alluring.I am curious about the narratives each of those lit windows is willing to reveal. What could be your plans for that?
Shakti
That’s up to you, Shatki! That’s the best part , we can all tell our own stories about them.
Ahh. Autumn. My favorite season. I tend to hibernate in the winter, and this time of year is when I gather and store–from books to food to movies to extra writing time. 😉
The perfect season to squirrel away our treasures; I love it!
Love your photos, I admit that I like to curl up with a book throughout the whole year, Annie
So true, Annie. And the colder and the darker it gets, the tighter the curl. Happy Autumn!
I love this time of year as well. The library looks so inviting, just how a library should look.
It’s a lovely library- I feel quite lucky. Hope you’re enjoying your autumn!
What a wonderful post. Autumn is so beautiful, and the image of a library to snuggle into as the days grow shorter is a great analogy to time and aging. There is a quiet desperation that nags at me when I see the leaves turn. Have I done enough with my life? Can I read more, learn more, do more before the winter rolls in? Wishing you well, Letizia.
I think that the sense of anxiety or rush can be a good thing as well – it signals a continuing curiosity, desire to learn, want for life; and in the end, that’s a good thing. Happy Autumn, Liesa – hope it’s a beautiful one.
Hi Letizia,
I love this post! The photos are lovely, and you have captured the beauty and mood of the season. Autumn is my favorite. I love the crisp weather, the striking colors, and then going inside to get warm and cozy.
Thanks, Naomi, I think it might be my favorite season as well. Just cool enough for the walks to be invigorating and for the evenings to call us indoors for a cozy night in, so true.
I love your outside looking in perspective of the library, although I do imagine you like the urchin with your nose pressed again the window checking out the book goodness…the bookness. Miserable weather is conducive to book reading and that makes me happy, not that we need the excuse, eh? Eh? You have cheered me up this windy eve for me.
The ‘bookness’ of the library was definitely calling to me. I didn’t leave a nose print on the window, thank goodness, and fortunately no one (I think) noticed me lurking about. Hope the wind has died down so you can enjoy your reading in peace!
It has been a bit wind hectic here recently but nothing I can’t handle with my manly nature of hiding indoors hehe.
I like that you would become a library stalker and your nose print was how the police found you…it’s like the most mad crime book ever!!!
That would be a fun book to read. I like the character of the manly bookworm hiding from the wind as well.
Your words read like a warm cup of tea on a crisp evening. Loved this post! Thanks Ste J, for the link to here.
Thank you so much for the kind words! I’m a fan of his blog as well and am happy he helped us find our blogs.
He’s a good egg!
I agree!
Beautiful photography … I’m glad I clicked over to your site from wordpress.com reader! Great to connect with you.
Thank you – for dropping by and commenting – always happy to meet someone new.
I could relate to every single word you said. I love the shortened days, the glow of books through a window, and everything else about the beauty of fall.
My mother gets so depressed this time of year. The long nights make her melancholy. I always think it so odd that we’re so different. I am never more at peace than at this time of year. I always hope that some of my joy will rub off on her, but it doesn’t. She just tries to pass the time and make it through winter. I savor it.
It’s funny how some people enjoy this time of year and others feel blue around this time. I wonder if it’s that we enjoy indoor activities as much as outdoor activities or just that we’re wired differently. Anyway, hope you’re having a wonderful Autumn and happy to be home after your many recent travels.
What a great post, love the photos, and is true fall invite us to read more.
Thanks, Doris; so glad you agree!
Ah, what lovely photos! The beauty of fall ALMOST makes up for the impending doom of winter… but I like your positive spin: it’s the perfect time of year to stay indoors with a book 🙂
impending doom of winter – oh no! That made me laugh – winter is definitely a time to read even more (well. when we’re not playing in the snow, of course….).
Very true! Books and cocoa. I shall survive. Maybe.
Your description of all the cold, early darkness, changing colors and cozying up inside is almost poetically beautiful, Letizia. You’re a true book lover, satisfied in every season in situation, and enjoying every page.
Thank you for the lovely words, Marylin! We’ve been lucky to have a particularly beautiful autumn so it’s been easy to be inspired this year. Wishing you a warm, cozy rest of autumn!
The last time I tried to take photos like that, I had to make a statement to authorities. Six more months, and I can have my camera back. I find a good summer book is perfect for when the weather turns chilly, incidentally. what do you think, Letizia?
A literary peeping tom (peeping tom sawyer?), I love it! How interesting to read a summer book in the winter months. I never pay attention to the seasons in my books but now that you’ve brought it up, I will be thinking of if it.
The first photo is something which I cannot describe!
Thank you – we had a beautiful autumn this year!
Hello 🙂 Thank you for dropping by my blog and clicking the Follow button. It is really appreciated!
I’ve always loved the concept of winter because to me it involves what you wrote…staying in doors, it’s all cozy inside as the world sleeps under a white blanket of snow…and with the fire dancing in the fireplace, a hot drink, soft background music, good friends and a dog or two snoozing, there’s a good book in my hands…
And the first image of the tree is beautiful!
The cold weather is so conducive to staying in with a good book, right?
Thanks for visiting my blog!
Amen! Winter is the “reading season” if there is such a thing. And the scene you describe is one of the many reasons I love working in a library!
It must be lovely to work in the library among people reading and researching. You must be tempted to look over their shoulders at times to see which book they are reading….
I love the shorter days and longer nights of the fall and winter…. To me, it’s like natures invitation to go within, to introspect, to be at home with oneself and create…. Or to simply be at peace with oneself and the gift of the present. This is, no doubt, my favorite time of year. 😉
I grew up in CT and can appreciate that colorful photo very much. Thank you for sharing.
Happy day,
Lindsey
You captured the beauty of Autumn so well! It’s truly a meditative season, a reminder to pause.
Thanks for visiting and taking the time to comment, Lindsey.