A rising tide of color

I’m sitting looking west, out the picture window, at the trees behind the house. If I watch long and carefully enough, I think I may get to actually see a leaf change color. That thought is based on the phenomenal increase in yellow, orange and scarlet leaves over the past few days. Much of the northern half of the state is approaching 50% peak color. We’re getting close to 25%. Is it possible leaves only change color in the privacy of nighttime, when no one can see them changing?

solitary dandelion

Photo by J. Harrington

This morning we saw an orange and black butterfly land on the sole dandelion in the back yard. It was too far away to tell if it was a Viceroy or a Monarch. There still seem to be a few hummingbirds around. I expect them to be headed south by the weekend or shortly thereafter. Waterfowl, on the other hand, will hang around until there’s almost no open water and feeding fields are snow covered.

Moles are still active. I set a trap on a new tunnel yesterday. So far, no action. I’ll move it tomorrow if it’s still unsprung. That will also be a good time to check for fresh pocket gopher mounds. If critters that live under the surface didn’t make such a mess on the surface, I’d be more inclined to live and let live, but ....

We’re just a few days from the Autumn Equinox. The forecast for the weekend is showers and thunderstorms, so the odds are against a celebratory brush pile fire on Saturday evening. There’s always the prospect of curling up with a good book as “Plan B.” Meanwhile, the current temperature is in the low 80s and there’s a nice southerly breeze so it’s feeling more summerish than autumnish. It’s a good time to go enjoy a brief burst of nature bathing and see what’s happening up at the ponds.

I Don’t Know What Will Kill Us First: The Race War or What We’ve Done to the Earth

Fatimah Asghar

so I count my hopes: the bumblebees
are making a comeback, one snug tight
in a purple flower I passed to get to you;

your favorite color is purple but Prince’s
was orange & we both find this hard to believe;
today the park is green, we take grass for granted

the leaves chuckle around us; behind
your head a butterfly rests on a tree; it’s been
there our whole conversation; by my old apartment

was a butterfly sanctuary where I would read
& two little girls would sit next to me; you caught
a butterfly once but didn’t know what to feed it

so you trapped it in a jar & gave it to a girl
you liked. I asked if it died. you say you like
to think it lived a long life. yes, it lived a long life.

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