it breaks your heart

Tim Lincecum & co.

from elcapitan79 on flickr

Rainy. The regular baseball season ended in dramatic fashion on Wednesday.  No world championship for my Giants this year, but they will never be able to take last year away from us.

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops, and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, and rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just as the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops. Today, October 2, a Sunday of rain and broken branches, and leaf clogged drains and slick streets, it stopped, and summer was gone...

The late Bart Giamatti

Commissioner of Baseball

storage

Rainy. woolly caterpillar crossing the road in Ferrisberg. Young boy walking to school with a backpack and an umbrella. Boats on trailers on Rte 7. This same process was taking place last spring except the boats were going to the lakes then. Now they're heading to winter storage.

shift

Jupiter & the Milky Way
from Alireza Teimory on flickr

Sunny & warm. I feel fortunate to have a hobby that allows me to actually enjoy the increasing darkness that occurs this time of year. Was out doing some star gazing with Pete the other night, Jupiter very prominent in the east. We both noticed that the summer sound of the crickets had diminished quite a bit, but not completely gone. Monday night I was out looking for the northern lights, and noticed that the milky way has changed from its summer position of running north to south in the sky to its east west position for fall. I've gotten to the point that I can conceptually understand many of the movements that take place in the heavens; the changing of the moon and the constellations. I can't wrap my head around this particular shift of the milky way. I'll have to ask Pete.

neighborhood

from Rusty one on flickr

Sunny and mild. There have been a couple of times over the last two weeks when I have gone into the new armory in Rutland Town to serve breakfast to the National Guard. They are helping to make repairs in our area caused by hurricane Irene. It has been a great experience in many ways. It has given me an insight into the military that I never had before, and there is much I admire and respect. They are grateful for what we are doing, and we are, of course, grateful for their efforts.

Preparations start about 5:00 A.M. & so it is dark when I head out. I have gotten my first glimpse of my favorite constellation Orion along with the blue white ball of fire that is Sirius below and to the left. Seeing the return of these favorites is like the return of old friends. I never thought that I'd consider the constellations to a part of my ever shifting celestial neighborhood, but there it is. The night sky is currently clear, and I'm considering a little star gazing

foliage season

There is a new employee at work who grew up in Vermont, but has spent the last several years in Florida. I passed him in the hall the other day, and mentioned how he must be looking forward to foliage season. The gleam in his eye said it all.

There is an anticipation this time of year that is almost akin to Christmas morning as the trees begin to unwrap themselves. It is impossible to know if it's going to be a good year or not until it happens. The first trees to turn are those found in swamps and wet areas. Often they are among the most colorful.

The leaves can be brilliant on a sunny day, but, believe it or not, they are almost more impressive on a cloudy or rainy one. In a good foliage year, the leaves on the trees almost seem to give off their own light.

As you can see, I was out the other day trying to capture the expanding show of color I see all around me. On the one hand, it is frustrating that it seems impossible to recapture the emanations of red, gold, and yellow. On the other hand it seems only right that one has to come and see it to truly experience it.

The recently repatriated Vermonter said that all the forecasts point to an above average foliage season; something to do with all the rain we've had. I am happy for my brother, and his family who will be visiting from Montana in a couple of weeks. I think they will be amazed.

mums

Rainy. The bridge just south of Rutland on Rte 7 has been fixed, and that means Rutland is roughly back to where it was before Irene. Not as many dump trucks on the road now. Mums and other fall flowers on display. Three deer getting ready for winter by feasting in our compost pile the other morning. Turning on the lights in the car when driving to work in the morning. Corn guy in W. Rutland gone for the year, and Woods Mkt in Brandon closed for the season as well.

dense fog

Coming home from the Zen Center last night after the start of the term student program, the sky was clear; the Pleiades shining like a jewel in the eastern sky. Woke up this morning to dense fog. Apple stand open south of Middlebury.

In dense fog
what is being shouted between
hill and boat.
Basho
Zen page a day calendar

heading south

Rainy. Wearing a long sleeved shirt to work. Milkweed seed pods opening. Squirrel crossing the road with an apple in its mouth. Geese seen heading south in the Middlebury area; the classic sign of fall in New England.

backhoes

Clear and cold. We had our first frost of the season last night. The road commissioner repaired most of the damage to our lane on Friday night (you can see the blog from 8/31 for the before shot). Route 4 from Rutland to Killington was opened on Friday as well. There was a great article in the Rutland Herald about how Doug Casella, the president of Casella Construction had worked with Governer Shumlin to minimize the red tape, allowing the completion of the project in record time. Shumlin said (with some hyperbole I'm sure) that he thought it would take 18 weeks to make the repairs and it had taken 18 days. Shumlin had been talking with Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey about recovery in his state of New Jersey. Christie had said it was going slowly. Shumlin had said things were going quickly in Vermont. He told Christie that in New Jersey people are driving Mercedes and BMW's while in Vermont, it's not unusual to find a tractor or backhoe in people's back yards. I have to admit it made me smile.

scarescows

Mostly clear and 42 degrees this morning. First time I've included a temperature report in quite awhile. Spirea is still blooming. Pumpkins and Halloween costumes on sales at the markets. Fall display of straw bales, pumpkins, and a scarecrow at the Maple Museum in Pittsford. A friend mentioned the shortening of the days to me the other day. I told her that astronomers are really OK with that. She gave me one of those looks.

frost warnings

Yesterday was sunny and warm, but we've had a few cool days as well. Closing the windows at home, putting on a sweatshirt, even turning on the heat. Burning bush is turning. Frost warnings for the weekend

M&M

At this time of year, animals are either heading south, or they are storing up for winter. Yesterday I saw a few ants trying to move an M&M which had been dropped on the sidewalk at work. No luck.

Harvest Moon

Full moon, the "Harvest" moon, last night. Mushrooms and the like growing in the lawn in the back. The Vermont state fair has come and gone, wrecked cars from the demolition derby on trailers in the usual places in West Rutland. Leaves and pine needles on the carpet at work. Smoke from a chimney.

season of yellow

green-headed coneflower

jerusalem artichoke

sunflower

sawdust

boneset

 

 

Cloudy. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a hatch taking place down by Rte 7 when I was driving home. Often that coincides with an ant hatch that takes place along the sidewalk at Tuttle. Sure enough, when I got to work the next day, the signs of the hatch were apparent. The high school sports season has started; field hockey game observed at Otter Valley High School. Smell of sawdust from the wood pile in the back.

snow ball trees

Rainy. Jewelweed and Pearly Everlasting in bloom. Bridge inspectors from Ithaca, New York were on our bridge on Monday morning. There was a picture of a woman from our meditation group volunteering with Restoring Rutland in the Herald the other day. PG Hydrangeas on bloom. A co-worker calls them snow ball trees.

september

Rainy.  Cutting wood in the back on Labor Day weekend.  The toads and crickets supervising as usual at this time of year. The Vermont State Fair has begun. Leaves starting to cascade from the trees when the wind blows; sound of these same leaves scraping on roads and sidewalk. Dragonflies starting to cluster as they begin their September migration. Some of the usual sights and sounds of September in Vermont.

come and gone

This photo is of Rte. 7, the main roadway north and south in western Vermont. It is closed north and south of Rutland. I saw a huge semi do a U turn across four lanes of traffic just a little bit north of here. Rutland is actually bustling these days with traffic and construction workers passing through. I actually saw a couple of screwdrivers and assorted items lying in the road at the intersection of Rtes. 4 & 7. They must have fallen out of someone's truck. There is a lot of traffic on Cold River Road. It must be some kind of a detour.
School has started albeit a day late in some areas because of the storm. The Addison Farm and Field days have come and gone as have the birds that were singing in the morning back in June.

you can't get there from here

There's an old saying in Vermont, "You can't get there from here." Unfortunately it appears to be true these days. I've never known what it's like to live in a disaster zone, now I do.
On Monday night I saw a convoy of Army trucks driving on Rte. 133 in Ira. It's not unusual to see 3 to 4 utility trucks together on the roads. Saw a Red Cross semi apparently hauling in supplies in Rutland yesterday. Helicopters flying overhead. A co-worker is part of an ATV team hauling supplies to Rochester on Friday. The roads there are gone. The traffic light in West Rutland is still not working. I saw a guy in a pick up truck directing traffic there yesterday from inside his truck.