A beautiful time of year...

Today I was going to write about the whole Bin Laden thing, but decided that it's already been done to death (pun not intended). And this quote that's been doing the rounds (minus the bit that was apparently wrongly attributed to MLK) pretty much sums up my feelings on it all:

Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. 

Martin Luther King, Jr.

So instead, I thought I'd wax lyrical about autumn. If you've never been to Canberra at this time of the year, you should. Yes, it is a little cold, but the scenery more than makes up for it.

As it is a 'garden city' there are lots and lots of trees. Now as you know, I love trees at the best of times, of course because they are our planet's life force, but also because of cool stuff like this:

A tree that fell over but kept growing!

And while many of the trees in Canberra are gum trees and evergreens (especially where I live), there are enough deciduous trees to make autumn a glorious time of year. It's amazing that something as simple as a tree can produce such an amazing range of colours. And they way they look against other trees is such a great effect.
For example, here are some photos I've taken while out walking over the past couple of days:

  And here are a couple I took last year, when I was specifically chasing autumn photos:

In autumn, many of the days are warm and sunny, but I can snuggle up under a warm doona with my best man on the chilly nights. There are piles of leaves everywhere, and it's still so much fun to walk through them, kicking them around, even picking them up and throwing them at people. Sometimes, I even find little piles to drive through, and I watch in my rearview mirror as they float around crazily, then settle back down onto the road to give the next person a simple little thrill.

Ahhh lovely...