Thursday, November 14, 2013

signs of fall

You know it's fall when November 11, a.k.a. Pepero Day, rolls around. Occasionally, students give gifts, usually Pepero, on Pepero Day. In this case, a student got me something called Tonk, a box of crunchy, vanilla cream-filled sticks. Quite tasty. The name "Tonk" put me in mind of Nymphadora Tonks from the Harry Potter books—a striking minor character with a tragic arc: she's a young, cute, twenty-something "metamorphmagus" witch (she can shape-change at will) with a naughty thing for older men. First, she hangs around with crusty old Mad-Eye Moody, then she hooks up with grizzled veteran Remus Lupin, who must be pushing 50 when he and Tonks meet. She and Lupin are killed in the final book of the series during the Battle of Hogwarts Castle, but Tonks gives birth to a son before that happens.

My box of Tonk:


Switching gears, now: below, I took one of my better shots of some fall color on campus. This is a picture of the gentle uphill path I often walk to get to my office. It's a sweaty walk for me in the summertime; now, with morning temperatures around freezing, I still sweat (yes, it's true—I'd sweat on the summit of Everest), but not nearly as much. Enjoy the colors.






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