익어 가는 가을: Fall Is in the Air

It's my favorite time of year once again - yesterday was the autumnal equinox, marking the end of summer and the start of fall across the Northern Hemisphere. And 2014 appears to be the year we reach peak pumpkin spice. Autumn is the season of harvests, festivals, migrations, winter preparations, and of course, spectacular foliage. Across the north, people are beginning to feel a crisp chill in the evening air, leaves are splashing mountainsides with bright color, apples and pumpkins are being gathered, and animals are on the move. Collected here are some early images from this year's autumn.

A deer bugles in the morning mist in Richmond Park in London, England, on September 23, 2014. Tuesday marked the autumn equinox where day and night are of equal lengths. (Rob Stothard/Getty Images)

Aspen trees on FSR 612 at North Kaibab Ranger District, near the Grand Canyon in north-central Arizona, on September 21, 2014. (David Hercher/U.S. Forest Service, Kaibab National Forest) 

Farmer Harald Wenske transports pumpkins on a punt over a river near Lehde, Germany, on September 23, 2014. (Patrick Pleul/AFP/Getty Images)

The Harvest Moon rises behind the lighthouse on the breakwater of Valletta's Grand Harbour in Malta on September 9, 2014. (Reuters/Darrin Zammit Lupi)

Mist lingers in Hope Valley at sunrise viewed from the top of Mam Tor in the Peak District in Castleton, United Kingdom, on September 10, 2014. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Leaves develop autumnal colors on the Tu Hwnt ir Bont Tearooms in Llanrwst, Wales, on September 20, 2014. (Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images)

Canada geese walk in a corn field on a foggy morning in Stuyvesant, New York, on September 18, 2014. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) 

Gardener Silvia Manteuffel measures her giant pumpkin in a garden near Fuerstenwalde, Germany, on September 18, 2014. Her first attempt of growing a pumpkin led to the giant plant weighing around 260 kilograms. (Patrick Pleul/AFP/Getty Images)

A cyclist rides through the morning light in Richmond Park in London on September 23, 2014. (Rob Stothard/Getty Images) 

A drone flies over vineyards of the Pape Clement castle, belonging to Bordeaux winemaker Bernard Magrez in the southwestern French town of Pessac on September 9, 2014. Magrez is the first winemaker to use a drone equipped with an infrared camera to determine the optimal maturity of the domain's grapes and thus harvest them at different times. (Jean Pierre Muller/AFP/Getty Images) 

A picker collects grapes during the harvest on September 17, 2014 in the Marquis de Montmelas domain in Montmelas-Saint-Sorlin, France. (Jeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty Images)

Fall colors are reflected on Rock Lake near Pillager, Minnesota, on september 21, 2014. (AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt)

Sunset in a wheat field of the Solgonskoye farming company in the village of Solgon, southwest from Krasnoyarsk, Russia, on September 6, 2014. (Reuters/Ilya Naymushin)

A red deer in the morning light in Richmond Park in London on September 23, 2014. (Rob Stothard/Getty Images)

Ripening chilies at an organic farm in Eggersdorf, Germany, on September 19, 2014. (Patrick Pleul/AFP/Getty Images)

A man selects wine-grapes with a pruning shear on September 11, 2014 at the Muscadet vineyards of the Landron domain, in La Haie-Fouassiere, near Nantes, western France. (Jean-Sebastien Evrard/AFP/Getty Images)

Bavarian farmers escort their herd during the traditional "Almabtrieb" in Bad Hindelang, about 180km (110 miles) south of Munich, on September 11, 2014. (Reuters/Michael Dalder)

A waitress serves beer during the opening of the traditional Bavarian Oktoberfest festival at the Theresienwiese in Munich, Germany, on September 20, 2014. (Christof Stache/AFP/Getty Images)

Fall Foliage on Steens Mountain in southeastern Oregon. (Kelly Hazen/Bureau of Land Management)

Members of the Platteview High School football team practice surrounded by fields of soybean and corn in Springfield, Nebraska, on September 10, 2014. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik) 

A mixture of wild and hatchery-raised sockeye salmon in Redfish Lake in central Idaho, on September 10, 2014. More endangered sockeye salmon have made the 900-mile journey from the Pacific Ocean to central Idaho's high-elevation Redfish Lake this fall than in any previous year going back nearly six decades. (AP Photo/Idaho Dept. of Fish and Game, Chris Kozfkay)

A French farm worker harvests apples in an apple orchard at the Verger d'Epinoy near Cambrai, France, on September 3, 2014. (Reuters/Pascal Rossignol)

Ducks and geese are seen through the morning mist on the lake at sunrise in Richmond Park on September 23, 2014 in London, England. (Rob Stothard/Getty Images)

A combine harvester and a tractor with trailers work after sunset on a wheat field at the Solgonskoye farming company in the village of Solgon, southwest from Krasnoyarsk, on September 6, 2014. (Reuters/Ilya Naymushin) 

The silhouette of a stag at nightfall in a foggy prairie near Yvoy-le-Marron, France, on September 16, 2014. (Reuters/Philippe Wojazer)

Ferns glow in the morning light in Richmond Park on September 23, 2014 in London, England. (Rob Stothard/Getty Images) 

A fishermen's camp on the bank of the Yenisei River in the Taiga district outside Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, on September 22, 2014. (Reuters/Ilya Naymushin)

Cobwebs catch the early morning mist in London's Richmond Park on September 23, 2014. (Rob Stothard/Getty Images) 

ISIS로부터 탈주하여 터기로 몰려가는 시리아 커드족: Fleeing ISIS, Syrian Kurds Swarm into Turkey

Late last week, ISIS fighters attacked a Kurdish city in northern Syria, after seizing 21 nearby villages in a major assault. The attack on the city of Ayn al-Arab, known as Kobani in Kurdish, drove hundreds of thousands of residents to flee, most heading to the nearby border with Turkey. The Associated Press is reporting that more than 150,000 Syrian Kurds have entered Turkey since the border was opened to refugees on September 19, and the United Nations warns that number could soon climb as high as 400,000. Turkey is already housing more than one million Syrians who have fled the years-long conflict between government troops, rebel soldiers, and jihadist groups. Some of the Kurdish men who escorted their families into Turkey are now trying to return home to defend Kobani, but are finding themselves blocked at the border. As the U.S. and coalition partners begin air strikes against ISIS targets inside Syria, here are images of those recently driven out by the Islamic militant group.                                                                                  9/23/2014

Syrian Kurds cross the border from Syria into Turkey at the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province, on September 23, 2014. UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, warned that as many as 400,000 people may flee to Turkey from Syria's Kurdish region to escape attacks by ISIS militants. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images) 

Turkish soldiers stand guard as Syrians wait behind the border fences near the Turkish town of Suruc on September 18, 2014. Thousands of men, women and children arrived at the Turkish border roughly 10 km (6 miles) from the besieged city of Ayn al-Arab, known as Kobani in Kurdish, a Reuters witness said, as Turkish forces initially stopped the crowd from crossing. (Reuters/Kadir Celikcan)

Syrian refugees wait to cross into Turkey at the border near Suruc, Turkey, on September 22, 2014. On September 19, permission was granted from Ankara, and Turkey opened part of its border to Syria to the refugees. (Getty Images)

A Syrian Kurdish woman crosses the border between Syria and Turkey on September 23, 2014. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)

Syrian Kurds throw a dead sheep as they protest asking for water for their animals on the Syrian side of the border with Turkey at the southeastern town of Suruc on September 23, 2014. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)

Turkish soldiers stand guard as Syrian Kurds wait behind the border fence near the southeastern town of Suruc on September 22, 2014. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Syrian Kurds cross the border from Syria into Turkey near the town of Suruc on September 20, 2014. Tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds flooded into Turkey, fleeing an onslaught by the jihadist ISIS group. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images) 

Syrians rest after crossing in to Turkey near the Syrian border on September 21, 2014, in Sanliurfa province. (Getty Images)

Syrian Kurds wait near the Syrian border on September 20, 2014. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)

A Syrian Kurdish refugee waits after crossing the border near Suruc on September 21, 2014. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)

A Syrian Kurdish girl looks at the Turkish police (unseen) as she crosses the border between Turkey and Syria on September 21, 2014. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)

Protection of the Kurdish People (YPG) fighters clash with possible ISIS targets near the Syrian side of the Turkish border near Suruc on September 22, 2014. (Getty Images) 

Smoke rises after Protection of the Kurdish People (YPG) fighters hit a target as they clash with possible ISIS fighters near the Syrian side of the Turkish border on September 22, 2014. (Getty Images)

A Turkish soldier gives a bottle of water to a handicapped Syrian refugee waiting at the border in Suruc, Turkey, on September 21, 2014. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

Turkish soldiers walk as several hundred Syrian refugees wait to enter at the border in Suruc on September 21, 2014. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici) 

A Syrian boy who sustained injuries in a mine blast receives first aid from Turkish medics on September 22, 2014. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Syrian refugees try to cross the border with their animals in Suruc, Turkey, on September 20, 2014. (AP Photo)

Riot police use water cannons to disperse Kurdish demonstrators who were clashing with Turkish security forces, as thousands of Syrian refugees continue to arrive at the border in Suruc, Turkey, on September 22, 2014. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

Riot police use teargas to disperse Kurdish demonstrators who were clashing with Turkish security forces as thousands of Syrian refugees continue to arrive at the border on September 22, 2014. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

Kurdish protestors clash with Turkish soldiers near the Syrian border after Turkish authorities temporarily closed the border, blocking young Syrian Kurds who had accompanied their families to safety inside Turkey from returning to the battlefront, on September 22, 2014. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images) 

A Turkish soldier fires during clashes with Kurdish people after Turkish authorities temporarily closed the border on September 21, 2014. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images) 

Kurdish people clash with Turkish soldiers near the Syrian border after Turkish authorities temporarily closed the border on September 21, 2014. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)

A Kurdish man bleeds after being injured while walking in the center of Suruc during clashes between protestors and Turkish riot policemen near the Syrian border on September 22, 2014. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)

Kurdish protestors clash with Turkish soldiers near the Syrian border after Turkish authorities temporarily closed the border, blocking young Syrian Kurds who had accompanied their families to safety inside Turkey from returning to the battlefront, on September 22, 2014. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)

A man walks past a burning car as Kurdish protestors clashed with Turkish soldiers on September 22, 2014. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)

Dalil Boras, a 19-year-old Kurdish militant who has been fighting the Islamic State group in Syria, speaks to the Associated Press in Suruc, Turkey, on September 21, 2014. Dalil brought his family over the border to Turkey to safety Sunday. But in the tranquility of a Turkish tea garden a few miles from the border, he vowed to head back to the fight Sunday night. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

Syrian refugees gather at the border in Suruc, Turkey, on September 20, 2014. (AP Photo)

Syrian Kurds carry their belongings after crossing the Syrian-Turkish border at the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province on September 23, 2014. The UN refugee agency warned Tuesday that as many as 400,000 people may flee to Turkey from Syria's Kurdish region to escape attacks by the ISIS militant group. (Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)