Stuck between harvest and Yule, the month of freeze up. The month when jobs turn out to not be going where you thought they were, when term papers must be started, when the year's billings look like they will not enough. We remember the dead this month - the saints then the soldiers. The extra hour now just gets you up too early but it gets dark before five.

But lo. The CFL comes to its apex this month. The first snowball thrown. Big beers and sweet wines take their place. Meats and root vegetables roast on Saturday afternoons. Sweater weather.