Chance of snow tonight. Today was warm, but wet. The leaves are mostly yellowed and blowing around on the ground.  It's fall in the mountains.

People politely complain about the weather. It's too hot or too cold, it's raining too much or not enough. Now snow is coming. Have a nice day.

My response to the weather is indifference. If it's cold, I'll put on warmer clothing and turn on the furnace. If it's hot, I'll open the windows.

The lack of sunshine, though, is something I dread. It's hard to be cheerful on a dark day. It's hard to get up in the morning before the sun rises. Most of the year I get away with rising with the sun, but this time of year the sun comes up so late, it seems almost indecent to linger in bed when there is so much work to be done.

Of course, the sun sets earlier each night. A star-filled evening is a wonder to behold, especially in Highland County where there are few lights to mar the night sky. But a cloudy night is almost unbearable. The lack of visibility on the darkest of nights explains the saying, "the darkness is closing in." That's the way I feel. The darkness is closing in. In the dark, I am alone. I am also afraid.

Halloween is a few days away. It's a seasonal celebration loathed by some, adored by others. I am a keeper of Halloween, if only in my heart. I won't put out any candy for the trick-or-treaters. Experience has shown no one comes down to the end of my lane. But I will remember the warm days of summer, the sunny days of summer, the green days of summer, as I mark the transition from a time of light to a time of darkness. I'll also remember my dead, the relatives and friends who have passed from this world into the shadows. At least it is a place of shadows to me, because only faith reveals what lies beyond.

Halloween is a good time to light a candle and put it in a window.  One old tradition says the candle is to light the way of the spirits passing in the night, when the veil between this world and the next is thin. Another reason for a candle is to replace the darkness with light. The candle becomes a miniature sun, too small to provide much warmth for the body, but it does warm the spirit.

I'm sitting in the dark now. The only light I have is from the computer screen, a modern substitute for the candle. Somehow that rectangular glow of background light is comforting. When I'm sitting at the computer lost in my thoughts, I'm just not so afraid.