lucky guy

I saw this scene when walking back to the front door the other day, just one example of the beauty and sense of serenity that Allyn brings to our house. I'm a lucky guy.

season of leaves

Leaves floating down the Ira creek. Sound of leaves scraping against concrete. The season of leaves has begun.

star gazing

Like many people I went out last night and took a look at the full/blood/supermoon. It was beautiful, indeed. As usual, however, I was more taken with the other objects in the sky; the Pleiades, an autumn constellation, was blazing in the east during the eclipse as was the sweep of the Milky Way way from northeast to southwest. The consolation prize for the loss of sunlight at this time of year is the increasing darkness which provides opportunities for star gazing.

for Doug

So let's say the winter wood burning season lasts from the middle of October through the middle of April. That's about 180 days. I usually burn about 15 pieces of wood a day so that comes to about 2,700 pieces. I finished splitting those 2,700 logs yesterday after having cut them up from trees around the property, and transporting them down to a staging area in this field. Now all I have to do load them in the truck, move them to the area behind the house, unload them, and stack them all (sarcasm). It is quite a process, but there is nothing like the feeling of wood heat emanating from the wood stove on a cold day in the middle of January.
I'm sure that Doug is smirking and shaking his head. Even though he had Kristin's wedding to contend with, he had his wood in week's ago. 

transition

Yesterday was the autumnal equinox. Season of transition. Iced coffee to hot coffee. Fans in the house to space heaters. Shorts and tee shirts to pants and long sleeved shirts. Woods Market, the wonderful fruit stand in Brandon has closed for the season.

wild geese

New England Asters

Flock of Canada Geese heading south for the winter, the iconic fall scene in New England. Their call is the essence of wildness.

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain 

are moving across the landscapes,

over the mountains and rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting-

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

Mary Oliver

experience

On Friday morning I got up around 4:00 to head out for a golf game in Connecticut. I looked out the bedroom window, and saw the planet Venus blazing in the eastern sky. It is said that the Buddha, after meditating all night, came to enlightenment after glancing at the morning star, Venus. It's never been difficult for me to see how something like that could happen. The brightness out of darkness of such a moment is truly penetrating.
The morning fog made for challenging driving, but added it's own special beauty to daylight's approach. Somewhere around Danby, when the sky was a little lighter, I saw the planet Mercury on the horizon. It's just a pinprick of light in comparison with Venus, harder to see but a delight nonetheless.
It was a long day on the golf course, and it was dark when I got back to my car in Arlington for the ride home. The waxing crescent moon was already high in the sky; a little slice of mother-of-pearl. I played pretty well on Friday, but that was really incidental to a beautiful fall experience in New England.

a great mystery

Sunrise on Saturday, September 19, 2015

Kristin and Tom's wedding day

Levin glanced round at her and was struck by the radiant joy on her face; her feeling infected him involuntarily. He felt bright and joyous as she did.

They took joy in listening to the reading of the Epistle and the roll of the protodeacon's voice in that last verse, awaited with much impatience by the spectators. With light hearts they drank the warm red wine and water from the shallow cup, and they grew even more cheerful when the priest, throwing back his vestments took their hands in his and to the gusts of the bass leading in Rejoice, O Isaiah! led them round the lectern. Shcherbatskky and Chirikov, who had been holding up the crowns and getting in the way of the bride's train, were also smiling, for some reason delighted; they would sometimes lag behind and sometimes jostle the young couple whenever the priest came to a halt. The tingle of joy glowing in Kitty's heart seemed to have infected everyone in the church. It seemed to Levin that both the priest and the deacon, like himself, had a desire to smile.

After taking the crowns from their heads the priest recited the final prayer and congratulated the young couple. Levin looked at Kitty; he had never seen her before as she looked then. She was enchanting with the light of her new happiness radiating from her face. Levin felt like saying something to her, but he didn't know whether it was all over yet. The priest brought him out of the difficulty; with a smile on his kind mouth he said softly: "Kiss your wife, and you, kiss your husband." and took the candlesticks out of their hands.

Levin cautiously kissed her smiling lips, gave her his arm, and with a new sensation of peculiar closeness went out of the church. He did not, could not believe it was true. It was only when their astonished shy glances met each other that he believed it, because he felt they were already one.

That same night, after supper, the newlyweds left for the country.

Anna Karinina

Leo Tolstoy

season of sunflowers

There aren't four seasons in Vermont. There are many seasons. Season of sunflowers among other things. They start to bow their heads this time of year, heavy with seeds. They also seems to be acknowledging the end of summer and the arrival of fall. Squirrels and chipmunks active on the roads.

device

The water well in the upper pasture for the cows dried up weeks ago. This little device has been utilized to draw water out of the creek. The cows learn to push on the lever on the left, and essentially water themselves. The water in the creek can be used for the cows without them actually getting in there and polluting it. As Dave Chambers said, "Everybody's happy." It is the coolest thing.

warmth

Beautiful sunny days, but cooler at night. Temperature at 47 degrees this morning. I open the windows during the day, and close them at night.  Allyn remarked last night that it wasn't that long ago that windows were open all the time, and we went around in shorts and tee shirts. Went out yesterday at noon, and it was warmer outside than inside, particularly on the walkway out front where warmth reflected off two sides of the house, and the brickwork underneath. I stopped for a moment to soak it in, along with the flowers in Allyn's garden.

oregano

Fall sports season has started at the local high schools. Saw a soccer game being played at Otter Valley the other day. Horseflies seemed to have disappeared as summer turns to fall. By the way, the plant I was trying to identify yesterday was oregano. Now you'll be able to sleep at night, Shawn.

invasive

I have been interested in Vermont wildflowers for many years. Recently I have been mowing the fields in the back, and came across patches of the flower seen above. I had never seen it before. I looked in my two wildflower books, and didn't see it there. It was a mystery until a few days ago when I saw the following in Allyn's garden.

The two photos show the plant at different stages of growth, but it is definitely the same plant. Allyn thought it was tarragon, but I'm not so sure. The leaves are very similar to ragweed. Hope that I can eventually find out what it is.

Yikes

It's coming.

Happy Burpy!!

I forgot that today Eliza, my little girl, turns two years old! I understand that she is having a "Burpy" party today. Yes, insanity definitely runs in the family.

stringfellow hawk

At some point when I was up on the ladder on Labor Day, I heard the screeching of a hawk high in the sky overhead. I turned to look and there he was, riding the thermals high in the sky over the field in the back. I realized for the first time how ideal our land is for the hawk population. There are pastures along the bottom lands with forested hills and cliffs behind them. When the wind and weather is favorable as it was on Labor Day, they can ride the winds that rise of the terrain below, and scan the fields underneath for food with a minimum of effort.
Back in the 80's when the kids were young, there was a hawk (above) who used to come down and sit on fence posts right outside our kitchen window. We called him Stringfellow Hawk from a popular television show from that time. 

farming

I spent most of Labor Day on a ladder, doing some painting. In the morning, Nathan Hewitt came by to do some work on the lines for sugaring next spring. He brought along his son who spent much of the day tooling around on the ATV they brought when he wasn't helping his father. Later in the day the Chambers'  came by to work on the tractor, and the fences. Sitting in the back seat was Dave's young daughter who's just a little bit older than Eliza. Three generations were present. There are a lot of challenges to farming in Vermont, but the ongoing, familial interaction is nice to see. It helps explain why farmers here are willing to work so hard in a vocation with little monetary pay back.

flatlander

Don't know if you can see the ATV back along the tree line. This shows the person at work setting up the lines for sugaring. I really felt like a flatlander yesterday. I don't have my wood ready for fall and winter yet, and this Vermont native is already working on sugaring for spring.

peep

You can monitor the changing of the seasons in a number of ways. The best way is through observing the changes in the natural world. Other ways are through the changes in the sports world, changes in food markets, and also differences in traffic on the roadways. Traffic has moved from summer campers and boat trailers to school buses and trucks hauling fair equipment.
The Great Vermont State Fair starts today I think. In actuality, it's a long ways from great in my opinion. It's the opposite of uplifting. A much better fair is the Addison Farm & Fair Days which happens much earlier in August. I was able to attend this fair along with Erin & family as we were heading to Montreal for the weekend some weeks ago. Elizajim (sp) was able to see first hand many of the animals she had been reading about in her books. She was spellbound.
Like any two year old, she is a child of many moods. It's funny that when she's happy she's usually doing one of two things. She's either yakking a mile a minute or she's totally mute. We didn't hear a peep from her when she was meeting the bunnies, chickens, calves, goats, etc. in the animal barn at the fair.

house painting

Temperatures in the 80's, but trying to button the house up for winter. Doing some house painting.

summer to fall

nodding ladies tresses

Noisy starlings gathering in the woods. Pellets for wood stoves for sale in hardware stores. Flu shots advertised at drug stores. Green in trees starting to lighten as chlorophyll heads to the roots as summer turns into fall.

Season of mushrooms

It is now the season of mushrooms. I don't know why, but it is.

Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities crept in. Forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day: you shall begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Zen page-a-day calendar