The blue of a crisp

October sky is simply beyond compare. Especially, the deep blue against the turning leaves. That and the smell of wood smoke. It puts a spring in the step, does it not? As I went for a walk today around our neighborhood, so many memories of past beautiful Octobers came crowding to the mind. Always, always, though, the chief memory of this time of the year is visiting my grandparent's home and traipsing with my cousins around the woods as the leaves drift down, the light dies too fast for all the activities we had planned, and the warmth of the wood stove in the kitchen, fragrant with corn bread and other goodies, as the darkness finally forces us back inside.