Clear skies and then more clouds…November
There is something so spectacular when the moon rises over the pines, orange as a pumpkin and slowly fades to yellow, then a bright white that hurts your eye almost as you look through the telescope at it. People always rub their eyes after, no it doesn’t hurt your vision but it is so bright you feel blinded for a moment looking out over the dark water of the lake. Then come the reflections…even Jupiter was reflecting the other night, a trail of wobbly light across the water, spectacular.
..and now the clouds again. November is the month I dread the most, before the snow flies and brings some light, the flowers are gone, the birds are fairly quiet and that wind. Brrr….we did have a few moments of sun today and a newly moved in Woodpecker graced the feeder, a beautiful Red-Bellied Woodpecker male. We had a pair back in 2021 so I was thrilled to see this fellow show up with the regulars, he’s shy, but hopefully will get used to us. The backseat of the truck makes an excellent bird blind to keep me out of the wind!
Maybe I’ll join Groot and we can hit the nip together;) It is amazing how well it has survived the frosts and -5° the other morning, still green, still has it’s wonderful nip qualities resulting in fresh and fruity runs down the driveway on the windy mornings in a serpentine pattern;)
He disavows all knowledge of being impaired! No nip to see here, wanna give me a nippalyzer officer? Ha! Rocket has rediscovered one of the joys of November, now that the leaves are gone, he has sunshine on the bed most of the day, when there IS any sun! Ha! Life is good! It is a time to worship the sun God Ra!
I walked out to check the mail. It was such a quiet place. A few chickadees could be heard chirping, it had a solemn feel to it, death of the the year as it goes into slow hibernation. Día de los meurtos, not always human the dead, the leaves, the bugs, the fungus. The potholes filled with rainwater hosted an array of leaves laying as if artistically placed, waiting to be admired and loved in death, like a corpse in a coffin. Those colours, onyx/brown, perfect for November in one of my photo groups, I thought it was onyx or brown but it is actually a colour, a dark brown/black marble like creation of nature.
In the quiet emptiness lies so much beauty.
Nothing Gold Can Stay
BY ROBERT FROST
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
In the swamp I marveled at the Virginia creeper berries, thinking they might be grapes, leftover, dried, raisins but no! The birds will take care of them soon enough! The only mushrooms visible through the leaves in the forest are the rows and rows of turkeytail on dead and dying trunks and branches. At the culvert I spied a single drop of melted snow on a milkweed seed, it was irresistible, having to photograph that. I climbed out on the culvert, on my knees and lay down so I was the same height as it, pondering one wrong roll would land me in the pond, the chances you take! Ha! I figured I could still hold the camera above the water if I tumbled in, so why not! Ha! Those little marvels of beauty.
I made a note of the locations of the winterholly berries, they are so beautiful. Along the Narrows Lock Road we passed an area that was solid red. I’ll go back to collect some for the Christmas wreaths and to string in the trees for the chickadees. They are so cheerful. But for now, the golden leaves of Fall will be a memory until next year when they burst forth in their last glorious display before falling slowly to the ground. Mike proclaimed seven weeks until Winter, it feels as if it has already arrived:)
Saludos amigos.
“I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.”
― Henry David Thoreau
I like your idea of using Winterberry holly in wreathes……we have some down by the beaver pond!
Birds like it as well!