When you know it is autumn, you realize that the world is starting to look a little autumnal. There are yellow leaves on some of the trees in the park.
The weather has continued to be warm -- actually a little hot. Apparently these temperatures in the high 20's (or high 80's F) are unusual for this time of year. Next week the temperature is predicted to reach the high 30's (low 100's F). So that doesn't feel very autumnal.
What does seem very much like autumn, however, is the start of all things school. Jonathan's school, of course, started a month ago, and he is now past midterms and looking ahead to the end of the first term near the end of this month. The semester finally started at my university last week as well. I've been teaching again for a week, and meeting with students, and organizing homework and syllabus and things like that. I like teaching. It's nice to be back.
But my morning commute has become much more painful. I take the train to the nearest station to the university, then catch a shuttle to campus. The shuttles run every four minutes. Monday morning, however, the crowd of people waiting for the shuttle ran all the way down the street. I watched four buses pass before it was my turn to climb aboard and stand, sandwiched between students, backpack pressed against my chest while I clutched the pole near the door, while the bus drove to campus. I am rethinking my commute very carefully. I think I will take the bike on the train much more frequently, whether or not I ride it all the way home afterwords. While it doesn't really shorten the commute time much, even with that four-bus wait, it does mean I don't have to wait. I just hop on my bike and get a little morning exercise for that 3.5 km ride.
I will leave you, finally, with one last picture of autumn: figs ripening on the giant Moreton Bay fig trees in the park! They are evergreen, so this is as autumnal as they get. The flying foxes seem to love this fruit. But I haven't stayed up late enough to watch them eat.
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