This is a beautiful time of year, here in Minnesota. The fall leaves are starting to turn, beginning with a few shy reds and some brilliant golds. The quality of the light changes as the sun's angle recedes and penetrates more atmosphere in the evenings. Even the sudden rains only highlight the special, golden quality of fall, making the bark of the trees darken and reflecting the brilliance of the leaves more vibrantly when the sun returns.

Fall is also a time of increased pace. Students get into new classes, instructors have a ton of organizing to do, families begin to prepare for the onslaught of holidays, as the major ones are just around the bend. It's all the more reason to look backward for a moment. Pause, if you will, upon the threshhold of time, and appreciate what has happened this year, this month, this week.

Wonderland, for Saint Paul College, has gone from a cool idea to a really nice set of sites for use by different groups, such as Harding High School, MnSCU, and others. We've forged a nice collaboration with University of Oregon, and out of that came UO's CATE building in Wonderland. We've talked with and partnered other organizations to lesser degree. Sun Microsystems has been invaluable in promoting their Wonderland system, enabling SPC to do more by donation of equipment and the continual updates and refinements to the software on which Wonderland is based.

The more the community works together, the faster the Wonderland world will be refined. As it stands, it's an excellent drop-in meeting place for just about any kind of educational or business meeting. Applications can be posted to the Wonderland node, either to watch on "automatic pilot" or to interact with, changing and tweaking in real-time an actual desktop application. The worlds can look like what we want from them, including buildings or fanciful landscapes. It works, it's solid, and it will flourish in the months to come.

Do stop and look. Fall is a busy time, but it's worth it.