1. After a heat wave, fall finally arrived in Washington Heights. The cooler temperatures seemed to shift the landscape; all of a sudden, everything was much farther away.
2. Or maybe it was just the sun, which was, in fact, farther away, and whose light now arrived at lower angles. It could now be seen peeking through the canopy of leaves in the park.
3. This weather was sad, in a way — everything alive and flowering now would soon be gone — but also a relief.
4. At home, in the garden, leaves that had struggled through the heat finally began to succumb. Flowers were replaced by shadows and reflections.
5. There were a few late bloomers, such as the toad lilies.
6. And the sweet autumn clematis.
7. The mornings, even the cloudless ones, were now very dark.
8. The lampposts were still glowing, making a path of orbs in the dawn light.
9. The ferns, the hostas, the hellebores, the astilbes; we all agreed: it felt good to think about the sun being very far away.
