AstroGypsies

It has been a beautiful Fall-warmer temperatures have left us maybe not quite prepared for the arrival of Winter. Unlike our comrades on the West, and East coast, we have not been subject to atmospheric rivers of moisture raining down upon us. We are very lucky. There has been some light snow today, just a dusting, a reminder of what is to come. The corner of the bay had a thin sheet of ice on it this morning. The flocks of Mergansers have arrived, very different from last year when I watched them from the dock, this year they are jittery, flying away as soon as I open the sliding door. Can’t help but feel humanity has not been kind to this group. I snuck down and waited and had a few shots hiding behind the wicker chairs…neighbors must be” What is she doing now?” ha!

Every day above zero and wind free is a bonus. The trailer is closed up, water drained, slides in…Gamora keeps going to the folded up steps and mewing! “Let me in my trailer!” Still home for her, and me, I do miss it, the smaller space, SO much easier to keep clean! ha! Next year. We have plans to see the East coast, and hopefully in the Fall, a trip South to family in California, and dear friends in Baja…I can taste the tacos adobada already:) With news of a new variant, who knows what our future holds, best to live fully one day at a time:)

Our daily morning walks with the cats are always a blast, but they are “Loki’s” ( Norse trickster God) through and through. Just when you think they are going to sit quietly and watch a patch of grass for mice, their tail straightens, it vibrates and off they run but, look back at you, a twinkle in their eye, as if to say! “HA! Catch me if you can!” They usually head down to the lake, or dock, with me or Mike trotting behind, great exercise going up and down those stairs, or scrambling across the rocks…never a dull moment. After seeing the fisher Marten this Spring I am a worried cat mother;) Gamora never goes off the leash, learned our lesson once as Mike sprinted after her in an Arizona State Park for a very long ways! She is from the tribe of free folk, wildlings;)

We have a male nocturnal Fox visitor who regularly leaves his scent, OK, he pees on things, branches etc and Groot has to sniff them all. Seems he must of left a nasty message as there was a great deal of hissing that went on at one particular bush! He sniffs it every day, without fail, and his entire trailer. His real joy, other than fresh fish, is me going into the basement and checking the mouse traps. I try to sneak down but to no avail, he comes galloping at the sight of me headed that way. Nothing better than a fresh caught mouse you didn’t have to catch yourself it seems, like take out for us;) They are very careful with the voles they catch, they bite! Best just to visit with them and find out the happenings of the underworld:) They usually escape unscathed, with a little help from us! All voles speak in Monty Python French taunter accents here by the way;)

Time well spent;) They are not good helpers for photographing birds although they say they are;) Speaking of birds, we are down to a few Fall regulars. I do miss the migrants and hummingbirds but this is where we live now:) No sight sadly of the Red-Bellied Woodpeckers, I usually hear them first but the regular crew is around to feed every morning. I have had great fun photographing these guys while I wait for them to land near the cups, glasses and small creamers I got at the dollar store:) After the cats have returned inside!

We did have a dry Fall so I am always thrilled to see new and interesting fungi, my husband pointed out that I have been saying that word wrong all my life after we watched “Fascinating Fungi” a few nights ago…English was never my first language, or second it seems either;) That is what happens when everything you learned as a child came from a book you quietly read on your own! That’s my story and I’m sticking to it! My biggest relief came today when I managed to get my spellcheck working again on my browser…whew…saved! Now back to fungi! Pink fungi! Who knew, but it turned out to be a single cell amoeba called Wolfs milk (…0_0…) or a lichen parasite such as llosporiopsis christiansenii or Illosporium corallinum…those are big words;) Why not stunning Pink parasite? I love my Facebook Mushroom Foragers of Ontario page! So much knowledge there, and an upload to inaturalist helps as well!

So much to learn about our world of fungi, and lichen parasites now here locally! Time for a wander in the woods, with hunting season over it should be a bit nicer! I totally forgot to post the picture I took of the eclipse Friday the 19th of November! It was cold, 4am, pre-caffeine (always a bad move…;) ha!) and extremely windy! I hid in the alcove to try to keep the tripod from swaying about and it wasn’t a half bad shot! I love these mutes red/orange tones-so much beauty-then quickly back inside! I whimped out and only got up for the “almost” totality! 97% anyway;)

At least I am getting to practice some early evening photography. Why is it we forgot so quickly exactly what we need to accomplish things sometimes? Where is the flashlight? Trip 6 back to the house to get something I forgot in my excitement of what was going on, glasses? Oh crap…hahahahaha! The series of moonrises we have had in the last week have been simply stunning, looking out the window at the moon peeking through the clouds, reflected in the water. I don’t mind clouds (astronomers everywhere just gasped in disbelief!) they always add so much beauty, except to eclipses! ha! Then they just hide it! So it’s been a few, damn, I have to go out there and get that moment, hat on, gloves on, winter coat over bathrobe (yes I KNOW, it’s not THAT cold yet, but all the same…warmth is wonderful! So worth it, then you find your self humming ♫♪♫ Harvest Moon ♪♫♪ by Neil Young you know it’s good! with your glasses;)

Happy Weekend amigos and stay tuned for some snow! Maybe;)