October is the sunset month of the year
when the earth is painted like the sunset sky.
This rich glow flashes round the world.
This light fades into the clear white leafless twilight of November –
and what ever more glowing sunset or Indian summer we have then
is the afterglow of the year.
Henry Thoreau, November 14, 1853
Indian-summer.
The sun comes out and lights up
the mellowing year.
Frosts in the mornings –
open window for a week.
Indian summer.
November 15
September 4. I think I could write a poem to be called Concord. For argument I should have the River, the Woods, the Ponds, the Hills, the Fields, the Swamps and Meadows' the Streets and Buildings and the Villagers. Then Morning, Noon and Evening, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, Night, Indian Summer, and the Mountains in the Horizon. September 4, 1841
September 8. Some spring flowers bloom again, followed by an Indian summer of finer atmosphere and of a pensive beauty. May my life be not destitute of its Indian summer, a season of fine and clear, mild weather in which I may prolong my hunting before the winter comes, when I may once more lie on the ground with faith, as in spring, and even with more serene confidence. And then I will [wrap the] drapery of summer about me and lie down to pleasant dreams. As one year passes into another through the medium of winter, so does this our life pass into another through the medium of death. September 8, 1851
September 21. A fine-grained air, seething or shimmering as I look over the fields, reminds me of the Indian summer that is to come. Do not these days always succeed the first frosty mornings? September 21, 1854
September 27. It is a very fine afternoon to be on the water, some what Indian-summer-like. I do not know what constitutes the peculiarity and charm of this weather . . . There is a slight coolness in the air, yet the sun is occasionally very warm. September 27, 1857
October 4. This is a fine and warm afternoon, Indian-summer like, but we have not had cold enough before it. October 4, 1859
October 5. A warm and bright October afternoon.[Begins now ten days of perfect Indian summer without rain; and the eleventh and twelfth days equally warm, though rainy.] October 5, 1857
October 7. I sit on Poplar Hill. It is a warm Indian-summerish afternoon. October 7, 1852
October 10. These are the finest days in the year, Indian summer. This afternoon it is 80°, between three and four, and at 6.30 this evening my chamber is oppressively sultry, and the thermometer on the north side of the house is at 64°. . . The phebe note of the chickadee is now often heard in the yards, and the very Indian summer itself is a similar renewal of the year, with the faint warbling of birds and second blossoming of flowers. October 10, 1856
October 11. The Indian summer continues . . . It is perfect Indian summer, a thick haze forming wreaths in the near horizon. The sun is almost shorn of its rays now at mid-afternoon, and there is only a sheeny reflection from the river. October 11, 1856
October 13. It is a sufficiently clear and warm, rather Indian-summer day, and they are gathering the apples in the orchard . . . The chickadees take heart, too, and sing above these warm rocks. October 13, 1852
October 13. This has been the ninth of those wonderful days, and one of the warmest. I am obliged to sit with my window wide open all the evening as well as all day. It is the earlier Indian summer. October 13, 1857
October 14. Fine, clear Indian-summer weather. October 14, 1853
October 14. A fine Indian-summer day. The 6th and 10th were quite cool, and any particularly warm days since may be called Indian summer (?), I think. October 14, 1859
October 15. The ten days — at least — before this were plainly Indian summer. They were remarkably pleasant and warm. The latter half I sat and slept with an open window, though the first part of the time I had a little fire in the morning. These succeeded to days when you had worn thick clothing and sat by fires for some time. October 15, 1857
October 16. There is less wind these days than a week or fortnight ago; calmer and more Indian-summer-like days. October 16, 1858
October 17. A fine Indian-summer afternoon. October 17, 1855
October 19. It is a very pleasant afternoon, quite still and cloudless, with a thick haze concealing the distant hills. Does not this haze mark the Indian summer? October 19, 1855
October 19. A remarkably warm day. I have not been more troubled by the heat this year, being a little more thickly clad than in summer. I walk in the middle of the street for air. The thermometer says 74° at l P. M. This must be Indian summer. October 19, 1858
October 19 Indian-summer-like and gossamer. October 19, 1860
October 20. Indian summer this and the 19th. I hear of apple trees in bloom again in Waltham or Cambridge . . . Another remarkably warm and pleasant day . . . 74° at 2 P. M. . . . There is a haze between me and the nearest woods, as thick as the thickest in summer. October 20, 1858
October 21. A very warm Indian-summer day, too warm for a thick coat. October 21, 1856
October 22. A week or more of fairest Indian summer ended last night, for to-day it rains. It was so warm day before yesterday, I worked in my shirt-sleeves in the woods. October 22, 1853
October 22. This and the last two days Indian-summer weather, following hard on that sprinkling of snow west of Concord. Pretty hard frosts these nights. October 22, 1854
October 22. Do not the darkest nights occur about this time, when there is a haze produced by the Indian-summer days, succeeded by a moonless night? October 22, 1858
October 24. Another Indian-summer day. October 24, 1852
October 25. A beautiful, calm Indian-summer afternoon, the withered reeds on the brink reflected in the water. October 25, 1854
October 28. Here is an Indian-summer day. Not so warm, indeed, as the 19th and 20th, but warm enough for pleasure. October 28, 1858
October 31. It is a beautiful, warm and calm Indian-summer afternoon. October 31, 1853
October 31. Ever since October 27th we have had remarkably warm and pleasant Indian summer, with frequent frosts in the morning. Sat with open window for a week. October 31, 1854
October 31. It is a fine day, Indian-summer-like, and there is considerable gossamer on the causeway and blowing from all trees. That warm weather of the 19th and 20th was, methinks, the same sort of weather with the most pleasant in November (which last alone some allow to be Indian summer), only more to be expected. October 31, 1858
November 1. A beautiful Indian-summer day, the most remarkable hitherto and equal to any of the kind. November 1, 1855
November 1. A perfect Indian-summer day, and wonderfully warm. 72+ at 1 P. M. and probably warmer at two. November 1, 1860
November 2. As several days past, it has been cloudy and misty in the morning fairer and warmer, if not Indian summer, in the afternoon; yet the mist lingers in drops on the cobwebs and grass until night. November 2, 1860
November 5. In Boston. — The first Indian-summer day, after an unusually cold October. November 5, 1859
November 6.Wind southwest. Thermometer on north of the house 70° at 12 M. Indian summer. The cocks crow in the soft air. They are very sensitive to atmospheric changes .November 6, 1857
November 7. This has been another Indian-summer day. Thermometer 58° at noon. November 7, 1857
November 8. Like Viola pedata, I shall be ready to bloom again here in my Indian summer days. Here ever springing, never dying, with perennial root I stand; for the winter of the land is warm to me. November 8, 1851
November 9. A fine Indian-summer day. Have had pleasant weather about a week. November 9, 1859
November 11. The fall of the year is over, and now let us see if we shall have any Indian summer. November 11, 1851
November 11. Clear and fine Indian-summer day. November 11, 1857
November 13. No Indian summer have we had this November. November 13, 1851
November 15. After yesterday's clear, windy weather we have to-day less wind and much haze. It is Indian-summer-like. November 15, 1853
November 15. A very pleasant Indian-summer day. November 15, 1859
November 16. There seems to be in the fall a sort of attempt at a spring, a rejuvenescence, as if the winter were not expected by a part of nature. November 16, 1850
November 16. This and yesterday Indian-summer days. November 16, 1860
November 17. Another Indian-summer day, as fair as any we've had. November 17, 1859
November 19. This is a very pleasant and warm Indian-summer afternoon. Methinks we have not had one like it since October . . .What is the peculiarity of the Indian summer? From the 14th to the 21st October inclusive, this year, was perfect Indian summer; and this day the next? Methinks that any particularly pleasant and warmer weather after the middle of October is thus called. November 19, 1853
November 22. A sort of Indian summer in the day, which thus far has been denied to the year. After a cold gray day this cheering light almost warms us by its resemblance to fire. November 22, 1851
November 22. This is quite a pleasant day, but hardly amounting to Indian summer. November 22, 1858
November 23. The Indian summer itself, said to be more remarkable in this country than elsewhere, no less than the reblossoming of certain flowers, the peep of the hylodes, and sometimes the faint warble of some birds, is the reminiscence, or rather the return, of spring, the year renewing its youth.November 23, 1853
November 25. This afternoon, late and cold as it is, has been a sort of Indian summer. Indeed, I think that we have summer days from time to time the winter through, and that it is often the snow on the ground makes the whole difference. November 25, 1850
November 27. Almost an Indian-summer day. November 27, 1852
November 30. This has been a very pleasant month, with quite a number of Indian-summer days, - a pleasanter month than October was. It is quite warm today, and as I go home at dusk on the railroad causeway, I hear a hylodes peeping. November 30, 1859
December 4. Fair Haven Pond is now open, and there is no snow. It is a beautiful, almost Indian-summer, afternoon, though the air is more pure and glassy. December 4, 1850
December 5. Rather hard walking in the snow . . . thus suddenly we have passed from Indian summer to winter. December 5, 1859
December 7. Perhaps the warmest day yet. True Indian summer. December 7, 1852
December 7. The winters come now as fast as snowflakes. It was summer, and now again it is winter. December 7, 1856
December 8. Another Indian-summer day. December 8, 1852
December 11. Almost a complete Indian-summer day, clear and warm. I am without greatcoat. December 11, 1853
December 13. We had one hour of almost Indian summer weather in the middle of the day. I felt the influence of the sun. It melted my stoniness a little. December 13, 1851
See also
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The world can never be more beautiful than now
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Gossamer Days
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Indian Summer
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau
"A book, each page written in its own season,
out-of-doors, in its own locality."
~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx © 2009-2022
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