Autumn Colours

Despite the shorter days, the cooler air and the increasing rain, Fall boasts the prettiest foliage of the year. A few particularly spectacular neighbourhood trees:

Small Maple on Brighton Ave.

Larger Maple on Redfern St.

Also Redfern St. I'm not sure what type of tree this is but it reminds me of a 1980s tie-dye shirt...though far more tasteful!

More Bookish Thoughts...

I can't possibly do justice to Philip Pullman's epic trilogy in a short posting but I will say that The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass are all captivating and worthwhile reads. His Dark Materials, albeit fantastical and other-worldly, manages to capture the raw human emotions of innocence, guilt, love, loss, and hope.

Pullman creatively combines ideas about God, consciousness, evolution and even contemporary physics to produce a brilliant and complex narrative. Some have criticized the trilogy for its anti-Church stance but, really, the story foregrounds the values of most religious institutions: freedom, responsibility and personal sacrifice in the name of "the greater good." Regardless of political undercurrents, the story remains exciting, touching, heartbreaking and thought-provoking.