We heard the sigh of the first autumnal wind, and even the water had acquired a grayer hue. The sumac, grape and maple were already changed, and the milkweed had turned to a deep, rich yellow. In all woods, the leaves were fast ripening for their fall. Already the cattle were heard to low wildly in the pastures and along the highways, restlessly running to and fro, as if in apprehension of the withering of the grass and of the approach of winter. Our thoughts, too, began to rustle.

Henry David Thoreau

EPHEMERIS
The Robin Migration Moon, wanes throughout the week and enters its final quarter at 6:55 a.m. on October 21. Rising in the middle of the night and setting in the middle of the day, this moon is overhead in the early morning. Lunar position could hinder viewing of the Orionid meteors that appear in Orion after midnight on October 21 and 22.
St. Luke's Little Summer, a traditional time of clear, dry weather starts on October 18 and ends on the 28th.
On October 19, for the first time since April 18, there is a five-percent chance for high temperatures only in the 30s throughout the East and Midwest. Another landmark for that day: Chances for low temperatures in the 30s jump above 50 percent.
On October 20, the day's length along the 40th Parallel falls below eleven hours for the first time since February 2. Also on the 20th, a light frost strikes gardens five years in ten, the highest likelihood so far this fall.
October 23 is Cross Quarter Day, the halfway mark between autumn equinox and winter solstice. The sun enters late autumn’s Scorpio at the same time.

NOTEBOOK FROM MIDDLE FALL
Into the woods and fields this morning, small cups of gossamer, were shining with dew, hanging to the tips of the dry wingstem. In the mist, the grass was yellowing, the woods like it seems in April, bright leaves like new flowers.
I saw a small flock of robins at the river bank, and then further upstream, the woods was full of them. Fat green Osage fruit lay all over the ground. In one dark patch of ironweed stalks, a few pale blue tall bellflowers were blooming; off to the side, parsnips were flowering, and some red clover and small white asters. In the bottomland, poison hemlock was growing back, with chickweed and sedum. A peppercress plant was blossoming as though spring were going to arrive in a few weeks.
In one corner of the pasture, wild lettuce plants, leaves shriveled, displayed dozens of prominent white seed heads, each maybe an inch and a half in diameter. When I touched the heads, they dissolved between my fingers. Blackbirds and starlings passed over the woods heading southwest before lunch. One monarch butterfly came by early in the afternoon, sailed over my head, the sun shining through its wings. A few loud, slow katydids sang tonight, maybe their last songs of the year.