Quiet Autumn Morning

Delicate golden leaves falling through cool air to brush upon hardened brown earth is the perfect image of another amazing autumn day in the slowly freezing forest. The birds bounce alone through the afternoon sun, scanning the ground for some last bits of summertime nourishment that still lay strewn about. The tall trees, once covered in brilliant green, are now swiftly shedding in the wind, waving in the breeze and wondering if this will be their last winter slumber. In North America, autumn is usually considered to start with the September equinox. In traditional East Asia, Autumn starts on or around August 8 and ends on about November 7. The vast diversity of the ecological zones of the South American, African and Australian continents renders the rigid European, North Asian and North American seasonal calendars an imposed cultural concept rather than relevant to climactic conditions. The word autumn comes from the Old French word autompne (automne in modern French), and was later normalised to the original Latin word autumnus. There are rare examples of its use as early as the 12th century, but it became common by the 16th century.