Some of you might recall that I entered my beloved children pets in a “Critterati Contest” held by the New Yorker  a few years ago.  We did very well, with Mark and Gomer claiming 2 of the top 5 spots. You can see them here.

Since then, it has become a bit of a halloween tradition to dress up the animals in our house. It turns out that they love to cross-dress as humans. Probably because of all the attention they receive during the picture taking.  If you follow me on Facebook and Twitter, you have probably seen my most recent photos of our critters all dragged out, but if not, here they are:

I was outside earlier today, enjoying the beautiful weather.  We still have quite a few leaves left on the trees and the way the sun filtered down through them made for a very beautiful dappled effect on Mark. So I whipped out my camera.

You know what’s coming, right? The dappled poem, of course.

PIED BEAUTY
by Gerard Manley Hopkins

GLORY be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough; 5
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.