The best time of day now, just following daylight savings time but before the weather has turned bitterly cold, is around three or four o'clock in the afternoon as the sun is beginning its descent. As the day wearily fades into night, the air begins to cool and the breeze picks up. The light from the setting sun is a rich orange-yellow that highlights the little bits of color left in the leaves that still cling to the almost bare branches.

I sit and watch the people come and go.

:~:

The bench out front of the dorm that I frequent is surrounded on all sides by cigarette butts. I see them not as litter, but as people; or, at the very least, related to the people I live with. That one, I think, was smoked by my neighbor while she conversed with her friend from the second floor. And those ones there, by the girls down the hall while they jokingly made fun of one boy or another.

:~:

It's uncharacteristically warm for this time of year, and I have the window open for the early portion of the night. Someone has lit a fire in their house and I can smell the wood burning. The moon is clear and bright, contrasting against the black, starless night sky.

Inside, I've hung my flowers up to dry and started using the scented lotion that reminds me of "yesterdays", four or so years ago.