Urge for Going #phenology

The drive is covered with pin needles, oak leaves and scatterings of yellow, oversized, grape leaves. Mother Nature is now adding rain drops to that mixture. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources tells us that our county is at peak color while most of northern Minnesota is past peak. Because nature is nature, there are exceptions, plus, the wind over the past few days has stripped many leaves from the branches. Last year about this time nearby woods looked really pretty.

peak Autumn color, 2016

Photo by J. Harrington

[UPDATE: via @RobGMacfarlane    Word of the day: “anthocyanins” - pigments responsible esp. for the vivid red colours of autumn leaves, synthesised as chlorophyll degrades.]

We've noticed local aspens and birch have reached peak yellow this year. The tamaracks, not so much yet. Roadside aster plants have all lost their blooms but so far, we've avoided the kind of killing frost that would do in the chrysanthemums along the driveway. If most of the flowers continued to bloom as leaves changed colors in Autumn, would that be too much of a good thing, or could we handle it?

Last night's and this morning's cloud cover did in our view of the Orionid meteor shower. Perhaps we'll get lucky tonight and the clouds will clear early enough for a better look. Soon Jack-O-Lanterns will be getting carved, bug season will be over(?), Thanksgiving will be on our time horizons, and snow will start to appear in our forecasts and on our property. The local Drive-In restaurant and the distant Harbor View Cafe will be closing for the Winter. Yet another year will have reached its own Urge for Going. We're sort of looking forward to once again wearing our heavy, warm sweaters.

                     Autumn

By Joan Mitchell

The rusty leaves crunch and crackle,

Blue haze hangs from the dimmed sky,

The fields are matted with sun-tanned stalks —

Wind rushes by.

The last red berries hang from the thorn-tree,

The last red leaves fall to the ground.

Bleakness, through the trees and bushes,

Comes without sound.

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