In our little forested enclave here in Southern Oregon it’s been a day and more of vicious gusts of October winds. The skies are filled with rivers of colorful leaves. Beautiful. Made us think of a song by Yusuf—Cat Stevens—Islam.

And Mr. Islam has apparently dropped the “Islam” from his stage name:

This was my decision. It makes the issue of identification personal, not political or religious. I felt it strange when journalists referred to me as, ‘Islam’. Reading things like, “Islam says … “ or something. That worried me. It’s a huge responsibility that I am not answerable for, so I felt nervous about that. I like to be known on first name terms!

By the way, if anyone called me ‘Cat’ in the old days, it meant they weren’t in my real circle of friends. In those days I chose my surname to be Stevens, which was in fact closer to my first name, Steven. Get it?

Happy Late October, everyone! Enjoy those winds!