Jennifer Brookes: There is nothing better than autumn in Washington. I know what you’re thinking, (”You haven’t experienced autumn in my hometown!”) and I’m just going to be honest with you. It doesn’t matter. Washington has every tree you can imagine (except for Baobabs), which means every color in October that you could ask for. Streets covered in leaves, cider (and yes, pumpkin spice lattes at every coffee shop, not just Starbucks) everywhere, and pumpkin patches aplenty. These pictures were taken in Carnation, Washington, about 45 minutes east of Seattle, at Remlinger Farms. Thank you to the Farriss’s and Walton’s for being willing subjects of my excessive picture taking.

Eric Peterson: On Friday night, I managed sound and played a show which kept me from home until about 4:30am. I was exhausted and a little nervous when I started setting up all of my recording equipment in the fifth floor of the Newman Center at noon the next day. While I set up, Chelsea Morden (violin), Maki Matsuoka (violin), Emily Hall (viola), and Allison Sheldon (cello) looked over what I’d scribbled out earlier that morning. I haven’t written musical notation in years, so I was absolutely floored when, on the first run through, it sounded just as I had imagined in my head (a feat due entirely to the talented quartet). Thanks, Allison, for helping put it together; thanks to the four of you for performing my first string quartet composition.