Author: Patrick Bredehoft
Visits should be short, like a winter’s day.
~Ben Franklin
Without more than a whisper of warning, winter has come on quickly in Philadelphia. The leaves put on an electric firework show for more weeks than we probably deserved this fall, soaking campus in hues of red, orange, and yellow from Homecoming through… well, yesterday, really.
Just like that, the leaves are down. As students pack their bags for Thanksgiving break and pack their brains for midterms when then return, the trees are suddenly bare, leaving the ground momentarily reminiscent of a grand autumn. And as the skies thicken into gray clouds and each new raindrop flirts with the possibility of flaking into snow, a chill hangs everywhere. Even the squirrels seem restless. The grass is bathed in gold for now, but for how long?
Of course, for those of us on campus, these are merely the harbingers of another season coming on in Philadelphia. As we watch the students bustle out our windows and squint our eyes to imagine the first snowflakes sticking to College Green, it’s somehow reassuring to know that along with shorter days, winter is on the way.
Frankly Penn 
Beautiful prose and a lovely accompanying image!