The sun rises these days with a brilliant luminescence behind our home. All our trees and those of our neighbors positively glow with the soft morning light.

Cool mornings slide into temperate afternoons, and we spend every moment possible outside, as soon, it will be impossible to sit on the front stoop, color, and press leaves.

The cat senses this, too. She constantly searches for a warm patch of sun or companionship. In the late afternoon, she can find both when she’s lucky.

The Girl, growing, with ever-expanding interests, begins to discover the pleasures of sitting calmly in the warm sun with a creative task to occupy one’s mind and hands.

In the back yard, the tired afternoon sun creates a softer, more mature glow in the autumn leaves.

And in the midst of all this settling down, this approaching hibernation that will eventually grow tiresome as we long for the blooms of spring, the camellia blooms.