autumn leaves, an autumn rose and an autumn concert

i'm writing this very late and am rather tired. it's been a busy day. chanda and i have been getting ready to visit my sister for halloween, and in the midst of the preparations my friend invited me to a concert at a local church.

the above picture was taken in our courtyard while doing laundry . . we took down two bags and when i walked out i was shocked to see that the leaves had finally started to fall and were turning color on the trees. it was also cool and crisp today. new york can be so warm that autumn will just sneak up on you.

an autumn rose!

a border going into a lesson book . . 

here's the title of the concert my friend invited me to: thomas tomkins, the great service. our local church has a choir of beautiful voices and i've always wanted to hear them sing. 

thomas tomkins lived during the reigns of queen elizabeth i, james i, and charles i. he was born in 1572 in pembrokeshire where his father was master of the choir. in 1594 he went to london to study with william byrd (the prominent composer of sacred and secular polyphony and consort music), and then was made master of the choir of worcester cathedral in 1596. he composed beautiful anthems that combined a madrigal style with an older cathedral style. the most important example of his church music was published posthumously by his son nathaniel in 1668 and is titled musica deo sacra. 

when i returned home chanda was carving her pumpkin. i could smell the pumpkin when walking in the door.

i set to work on making the pie (i had made the dough before the concert, thank goodness).

finally at almost midnight we had a jack o'lantern cat and a pumpkin pie (this is also when greg returned home from watching the florida state game, and korrina returned from school with a myriad of different sauces in her bag that are now in the frig).