turn

We have experienced hot, record breaking weather the last week or so. Driving in to the morning meditation, and the sun was just coming up over the Green Mountains. At that time of day it's possible to see just how much further south the sun is rising now compared to sunrise in summer. Having to turn the lights on in the meditation session. Coming out, the temperatures seemed cooler. Winds coming out of the north. Temperatures are supposed to be nearly 30 degrees cooler this evening, lows in the 30's overnight.

sumac

Leaves of the sumac starting to turn. The sumac bushes might be at the absolute bottom of the totem pole when it comes to valued plants in the area. It grows everywhere, mostly where you don't want to see it. Nothing about it is really shapely or elegant. It's about as ordinary as they come. Even the word sumac seems slightly distasteful. However, if you stop for a minute and really look at it this time of year, the leaves are about as intensely red as the  more iconic maples and oaks. Reams have been written about the breathtaking colors of the sugar maples in Vermont this time of year. I'm sure nothing has every been written about the beauty of the sumac.
The red conical seed pods also become prominent in the fall. Doug says that they provide valuable food for birds during the cold winter season.
I first started writing this, whatever it is, in 2007. I'm sure that at that time I never associated the word ordinary with the word miraculous. Now I realize they are often simply two sides of the same coin. Dandelions, snowflakes, blackbirds, sumac; highly ordinary but miraculous nonetheless.

another

Season of mushrooms

revenge of the day lilies

Was out mowing yesterday and noticed that Allyn's day lilies had blossomed again in the back where they had been eaten by cows earlier in the year. It was interesting to see that the blossoms were much lower to the ground, and, therefore, out of reach of the cows. Wondering if there might be some day lily intelligence involved in this change. This morning I checked out the day lily patch in the front. At this point, all the lilies have transitioned into seeds except for one which is of the short stemmed variety. This seems to blow a hole in my otherwise elegant theory about the intelligence of lilies.

For Weezie

Shrewsbury, Vermont

Pumpkins for sale along roadsides, taste of apple cider, sound of an owl.

By September the day breaks with little help from birds. A song sparrow may give a single half-hearted song, a woodcock may twitter overhead en route to his daytime thicket, a barred owl may terminate the night's argument with one last wavering call, but few other birds have anything to say or sing about...

The disappointment I feel on these mornings of silence perhaps shows that things hoped for have a higher value than things assured. The hope of hearing quail is worth a dozen risings in the dark.

September

A Sand County Almanac

Aldo Leopold

racket

Came out the other day to a familiar autumnal racket. Pine cones were tumbling out of the trees in the front in rapid fashion. I actually stopped for a minute to watch the activity. A couple of squirrels were busily scrambling from branch to branch, knocking off the cones. One squirrel stopped for a minute and gave me a piece of his mind. They eat some in the trees, but knock most of them down for winter storage I guess. There have to be a couple of hundred on the lane and lawn which makes Allyn mad. 

season of apples

It's the season of apples, the iconic food group offering here in Vermont along with maple syrup and cheese. I've been doing a lot of mowing in our fields lately, and dodging over a dozen wild apple trees that have sprouted up over the years. They almost grow like weeds here. It's interesting to see the wide disparity in yield. Some trees produce  many apples, some not so much. Some drop their apples early in the season, some late. It's my understanding that the late droppers are especially valuable to wild animals as fall transitions into winter.
Of course, people like apples, too. Seeing signs for U-pick apples in the area. I fondly remember apple picking with my kids, and my parents at this time of year many years ago. John and his family were here for a couple of days recently, and Owen enjoyed feeding apples to the cows when he wasn't busy riding in the truck, sitting on the tractor, or throwing rocks in the creek.

satisfying

Another beautiful summery day. Burning bush starting to turn. Flu shots available in pharmacies. Mowing the fields in the back. It is very satisfying.

stargazing

Stargazing in Shrewsbury on Saturday night. It was fun. It is said now that because of light pollution, only one person in ten can see the Milky Way. We saw the Milky Way, one of the many benefits of living here in Vermont. Believe it or not, on a clear night you can see the Andromeda Galaxy with the naked eye.

If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Andromeda Galaxy

fall foliage

I was driving into Rutland the other day, and noticed the foliage starting to change, band of yellow and orange along the tops of the Green Mountains. Even in areas where the leaves haven't turned, you can see that the leaves are a lighter shade of green as chlorophyll exits the leaves, and heads to the tree roots for the winter.
Down here in the valley, the first place that you typically see the leaves turning is in swamps and wetlands. Sometimes the leaves are also the most colorful there.
The fall foliage season is just a fact of life here on the other side of the creek. It's easy to forget that Vermont is synonymous with fall foliage. That there are people who come from all over the country, maybe even the world, to view what is happening in one's own back yard.
The foliage season varies greatly from year to year. Some years the colors are muted and relatively dull. Other years the colors are amazingly vibrant, breathtaking. There are theories as to why some years are better than others, but no one really knows for sure. I like it like that.

stacking wood

Another beautiful day yesterday. Spent most of it stacking woods. Used to get some help on this.

migration of raptors

Yesterday was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. While out in the back I saw four raptors gliding high in the sky over the small hill behind our house. One of them was way up there, barely visible. I remember going to see the raptors congregate around Mt. Philo a year ago. I remember watching about a dozen of them calling and careening around on the north side of the mountain. I know that they favor mountains in their annual migration southward, but I wasn't sure why. Here's what I found.

http://blog.uvm.edu/fntrlst/2011/10/02/the-fall-migration-of-raptors/

berries of fall

Boats on trailers presumably heading back from the lakes to winter quarters. Kids scurrying off school buses in the afternoon. The wildflowers of spring have become the berries of fall. This is False Solomon's Seal.

tiny purple flowers

Mums

Vines

Asters

When Munindra Ji, a Vipassana meditation teacher, was asked why he practiced, his response was, "So I will see the tiny purple flowers by the side of the road as I walk to town each day."

Tara Beach

Zen page-a-day calendar

young ones

Driving through Pawlet yesterday on a dirt road and noticed a flock of turkeys, probably about 20 of them. It looked like about half were adults, and the other half were younger. They weren't the fuzzy little birds of summer, but they definitely weren't full grown. I realized that this is a time of the year that I had never really noticed before. Many animals in the natural world are not babies anymore, and trying to make their way in the world for the first time. I see the baby bluebirds sitting on the back fence, looking for insects fairly frequently. A couple of months ago, these same birds were craning their necks in the bluebird house, waiting for a handout. The other day I saw a mother fox, and one of her offspring trotting through the field in the back. A couple of times I have seen a young bobcat crossing Rte. 133 on the way to West Rutland. Haven't seen the mother.
The size of the flock of turkeys was sobering. There were so many young birds. That seemed to indicate that many of them probably wouldn't make it through the winter for one reason or another.

milkweed

One of the first plants to change from summer green to the colors of fall is the milkweed plant. It is the only plant that is consumed by the caterpillars which turn into Monarch butterflies. In many areas, the loss of milkweed habitat has contributed to the decreasing population of said butterflies.
I just read an interesting article from last September from the Burlington Free Press that farmers in Vermont and Quebec are actually cultivating the stuff. Apparently the seed pods produce a superior silken thread that can be used as insulation in clothing and for other purposes. This should help provide sustenance for Monarchs in our area.

future

Soaking in the culture at the Haddam Neck Fair over the weekend.

corn

The corn is about as high as it ever gets, coming to the end of the growing season. Some of it looks to be at least 8 feet high. The operative color for Vermont during the summer is green. It's not called the Green Mountain state for nothing. However, as summer turns to fall, green is replaced my the more muted colors of brown and gray. The first sign of this comes from the tassels of these very same corn stalks.