The New Fall Google Doodle Is Super Cute

There's nothing like a good Google doodle to remind you of some occasion you might otherwise forget. The 101st anniversary of the first electric traffic signal? You probably wouldn't have remembered, were it not for Google's neat little homage. The 96th birthday of electric guitar pioneer and rock legend Les Paul? Of course, it must be, because Google's logo now features playable guitar strings. Basically, these things are often neat and rarely get old, even when they're marking occasions that are a little more mainstream. Like on Wednesday, for example — the new Google Doodle marks the first day of fall, complete with a cute little squirrel sneaking around.

As detailed on Google's official doodle archive, the fall logo was crafted by artist Kirsten Lepore. Not everybody's seeing it today — it's only visible to users in the northern hemisphere. One of the things people often lose sight of about the doodles is that there are lots of region- and country-specific ones. For example, while we're seeing this fall doodle, the people of Saudi Arabia are seeing one commemorating Saudi Arabia National Day, complete with an illustration of the iconic King Fahd's Fountain.

Meanwhile, we get this neat squash-based image, which brings together so many colors synonymous with the end of summer and the start of the fall. The audaciously cute squirrel is animated as well, darting around from one side to the other, and briefly pausing to give you a wave.

Look at that little guy! He could steal all the squash on Earth for all I care. I could never stay mad at him. It's a cuter image by far than 2014's fall doodle, albeit not quite as visually striking. Last year's fall doodle showed the letters of the Google logo as trees that had shed their red, gold and brown leaves to the ground.

At the very least, it's nice to know that the folks at Google will throw you a tip when the seasons change, since not everyone stays up to date on their solstices and equinoxes. For the record, the upcoming winter solstice falls on Thursday, December 22. But even if you forget by then, you'll probably be safe — provided you have a reason to check Google that day, that is. After all, they celebrated last year's solstice with a jolly snowman-themed doodle, and you'd have to imagine that there's more where that came from.