thistle

I was driving through Shelburne yesterday and for the umpteenth time saw a plant along the roadside I didn't recognize.

I stopped to take a look. It was some kind of thistle. Looking through my wildflower book it appears to be Canada Thistle. Its leaves were turning. I've never noticed that before.

Another example of the beautiful within the ordinary. Again, for the umpteenth time. Next to the thistle I found some Butter and Eggs flowering. No, Doug, this is not another name for Birdsfoot Trefoil.

moon-viewing

Rainy and cold, temps. in the 40's. I'm having some wood stove issues so I'm late getting wood this year. In the mean time, I split some wood I had in the back yesterday (not this much, this is an old photo). Boy was I tired last night. Allyn had some new storm windows installed this summer. Already the house feels much warmer. Full moon, the "harvest" moon is tonight.

Tonight I have
no time for sleep
moon-viewing.
Basho

season of mushrooms

34 degrees this morning. Mist rising from rivers and ponds. Season of mushrooms.

Wood's Market

Driving Route 7 on Monday, I planned to stop in at Wood's Market in Brandon to get some fruit. They were closed. Wood's Market really embodies summer for many of us. Potted plants in the spring. Strawberries in June, they are the best. Sweet corn in August, and a full selection of tasty fruits and vegetables for the rest of the year. Geese fly south in the fall and Wood's Market closes for the season. Summer is over.

season

Season of mums.

Season of asters.

mysterious

Got home last night about 10:30. The sky was clear and the stars were out. Was able to see the Double Cluster and the Andromeda Galaxy with the naked eye. There is a hurricane to the far south, but it's another sunny day here in Vermont. Fog in the valleys this morning, autumn is coming.
Speaking of autumn, apples are ripening in my back yard and all through the northeast at this time. There are two apple trees in our yard, and as they fall they complicate mowing. Allyn dumped four buckets of apples from one of the trees in a nearby field the other day as she was preparing to mow. The cows love them. I asked her if any had fallen from the other tree. She said three or four. These trees are about 40 yards apart. One of the trees has a lot of apples and the other has virtually none. It's a mysterious and amazing world that we live in. 

purple

Camel's Hump

Purple mountain's majesty indeed.

berries and migration

Was in Shelburne over the weekend. Saturday was a sunny day with the wind blowing from the north.  Some of us hiked Mt. Philo hoping to see some raptors heading south for the winter. The wildflowers of May have turned into the berries of September, and we saw some on the way up.

Someone saw these along the trail. I didn't know what they were. A woman who grew on a farm in Vermont said they were the berries of jack-in-the pulpit.

Nobody knew what these were.

When we got to the top there were birders with binoculars, but we didn't see any raptors. One lady said she had seen over 100 during the day. We took the road out, and about halfway down, someone pointed out three large birds flying just above the treelike heading south. They were hawks! They few silently and purposefully. The urge to migrate must be very strong in these species as many travel literally thousands of miles every spring and fall. It is mysterious and compelling to observe this behavior in action.

transient

Yesterday felt like the Fourth of July in the north country. Had a great canoeing outing on Echo Lake with the old woodchuck, Doug Blodgett. It reminded me of the great canoe trip I took with John on the Allagash River in Maine at almost exactly the same time of year some years ago with John, the trip of a lifetime.

Drove through Wallingford on the way to Doug's house. Went by John and Ellen's old place there, the place we used to watch over Owen when he was born. Drove through Tinmouth on the way home. Things were hopping at the Tinmouth school, but Allyn wasn't there. She was enjoying her retirement at home. Cooler temperatures are expected today as we transition finally from summer to fall.

We long for permanence, but everything in the known universe--thoughts, weather, people, galaxies--is transient. That's a fact, but one we fight.
Sharon Salzburg