“Itsy, bitsy spider went up the water spout….down came the rains and washed the spider out. Up came the sun and dried up all the rain and the itsy, bitsy spider went up the spout again!” A kid’s song apparently appropriate to August; I found three spiders escaping up the wall, in my shower this AM --- after having nary a one all summer. Steps will be taken!!
August ---the month with no holidays. There are actually about 3 ½ weeks of summer remaining before the Equinox, but we are progra
What wonderful golden days, even though steamy weather came too early! Here, in the Finger Lakes, it is strawberry season. This year I’m hoping to make jam as well as enjoying the fresh berries. Even strawberry-less gardens are starting to look good with their emerging rows of green seedlings. High school graduations are coming too. Because of standardized Regents tests, school endings in NYS are written almost in stone, but there seems to be no set season for graduations elsewhere; a neph
I just knew it!! I closed my eyes for a few minutes and suddenly, it’s mitten weather although we have a brief few hours of warmth today before a cold front comes through! We’ve finally had several black frosts and I hope all the mosquitoes have turned into little entomologic ice cubes! There was snow last Sunday evening as we drove home from Pennsylvania; not unexpected, but unwelcome! An upside of this late fall season is that mornings are now made cheerier and warmer with a wood fire, t
“The sun was warm but the wind was chill; you know how it is with an April day when the sun is out and the wind is still, you’re one month on in the middle of May. But if you so much as dare to speak, a cloud comes over the sunlit arch, a wind comes off a frozen peak, and you’re two months back in the middle of March..”*
Spring is here with its yoyo weather; in and out sunshine, torrential downpours and the occasional snow flurry. And with it comes mud season where feet can pop out of bo
The birds aren’t singing as enthusiastically as they had two months ago, but they are still happily visiting the feeders and chirping away contentedly. A very small hummingbird – probably this year’s baby —- zips in for the sweet fluid and hesitates when he sees me sitting on the porch. The fireflies have begun lighting up the grassy parts of the back yard, especially on warm humid nights. The second cutting of hay is nearly done for local farmers. The garden is growing but not ready to harve
“It was a winter evening of transparent clearness, with an innocent young moon above the housetops...”* Isn’t that a great way to begin a story that could go anywhere? It is also a good description of a fine night in mid-December. Early winter evenings can, if we stop to absorb them, fill us with an awareness of how special life is, evening, morning or mid-day. Right now, outside my window a downy woodpecker is enjoying a cake of suet, and just a few yards away, the turkeys are cleaning u
October ---- – the elixir of autumn! Of course, we have had snow in October; not often, but I remember one or two snowy Halloweens, and while Kerm was still with Cooperative Extension, there was always a inter-county horse show on Columbus Day weekend. More often than not, weather was yucky sometimes to the point of snow showers. The horses wouldn’t be too happy but the kids were fine. It takes quite a lot of weather to dampen the spirits of horse-riding teens. But in my personal view of O
“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold;
When it is summer in the light and winter in the shade….”
Charles Dickens
TA-Da!!! It is just past the Vernal Equinox and in my part of the world, Spring is here -- on the calendar as well as in reality! Spring, in Zones 4 and 5 can be quite liberally seasoned with big snowflakes, and chilly March winds, as has happened this week. We have, in some years, even experienced a blizzard in mid-April
Hasn’t our January weather been interesting?? Do crunchy snows underfoot, brisk breezes and wood fires make your heart sing? Snow-lovers can’t complain here; we’ve had snow since Christmas. TV weather people are much more animated when the weather is “bad”; life probably is a bit boring if no blizzards are in view and their radar shows that little is happening. I just personally wish that those fronts were less befuddled about their paths. Do we draw pails of water in case of power outage
Mid-July and outside I hear the buzz of lawn mowers, the subdued sound of birds and occasionally, the rooster next door. I haven’t done a whole lot of dancing up and down the lawn recently, but there have been lovely twilights for porch-sitting or around a campfire. This has been a dreadful year for mosquitoes, but the “fragrance” of punk sticks keeps them at bay where we are sitting. That aroma reminds me of 4-H camp in the Bristol Hills of NYS, where I went as a camper and later as a couns
Caesar Agustus!! Is the calendar page really about to turn again? In our circling of seasons, July is bringing its warm, humid self to closure as August comes along with its half-summer and half-fall days. Some garden produce is ready for harvest (lettuce, cherry tomatoes, kale….). The roadsides are full of periwinkle blue chicory and Queen Anne’s Lace, and golden rod is beginning to blossom suggesting summer’s waning. August is my birth month, a month with no holidays except my birthday,
August is a time of star-watching. The Perseid meteors create a star-showered sky tonight. Lying on one’s back and seeing the wide canopy of stars is awesome; something I remember well from camp. I do not, however, chart my life events by those stars. Also, I’ve never liked the traditional flower and gem for this, my birth month. Some years ago, a friend from Colorado gave me a Native American horoscope for the same time, and I liked it much better. Instead of gladiolus, the flower for A
Ahhhh….. It’s March! Daylight savings time (this coming Sunday) and the Vernal Equinox (March 20) all in the same month. And yes, we will lose an hour, but it will be delightfully light longer in the day. We can feel the new life of Easter approaching, for the season of Lent began last Wednesday with a community service and luncheon. It is a time of introspection as well as awakening activity.
My process of cleaning out is continuing; it might continue on into infinity! “Yet occasiona
“I stood beside a hill, smooth with new-laid snow, A single star looked out from the cold evening glow. There was no other creature that saw what I could see --- I stood and watched the evening star as long as it watched me.”* Stars somehow look larger and clearer against a black sky, when the night is cold and still. This week’s melt has left us with much less snow though tomorrow will likely remedy that ---- but the stars are still shining, waiting for us to connect whenever we gaze up.
It is mid-January and more light is coming through the tunnels of our winter days. The Christmas tree is out beneath the lilac, giving the birds another refuge from the always interested cats and hopeful hawks. The manger scene on the kitchen buffet and all the cool little animals have been carefully wrapped in tissue and packed away for another year. Hopefully, the wonder of this world-changing event more than 2000 years ago, doesn’t also get put away, but remains with us to light our days!
Planting season isn’t yet here for our gardens, but it is growing closer and closer. The red-winged blackbirds arrived two weeks ago. To discourage them from mobbing the feeders, I’m filling the feeders later in the day. They are, however, a happy sign that spring has arrived. There is also a starling that has found the little basket I put out for orioles last spring. He sits in it and demolishes the cake of suet hanging right next to the basket. There are four “gentlemen turkeys” (unattach
What a rapid run through November we are making. Days are flitting along like leaves blown by November winds. Thanksgiving is a week away. Am I prepared for the holiday season that follows? No, I am not! But somehow, we always manage to celebrate royally, ready or not. I enjoy Thanksgiving because it is about family and gratitude. There are fewer dizzying activities like wrapping gifts, running hither and yon, and all the hullabaloo that goes with Christmas. The weather is usually better
We are currently living amid the most ebullient, lush time of the year. Greenery grows inches every night. The cinnamon ferns in my shade garden are unrolling like so many bright green scrolls. Soon they will be high enough that I must peer through them to see the bird feeders. And baby raccoons and skunks will be out and about. We have an interesting variety of creatures in this region; opossums, raccoons, foxes, bobcats, black bears, skunks, fishers, coyotes, turkey vultures (four of whi
What a variety of weather February is bringing us. Shortly after Valentine’s Day, environmentalists on social media began encouraging us to leave garden debris for a few weeks at the beginning of the “season”, and “don’t pull dandelions.” I’m thinking, “Umm.….there are still patches of snow beneath my shrubs, plus what we just got, and dandelions haven’t dared show a glimmer of green. There’ll be no debris-removal until mud season is over and my fingers won’t freeze.”
Regardless of yoyo
“I like the fall --- the mist and all. I like the night owl’s lonely call --- and wailing sound of wind around….”*
Especially do I like those things if we have a cozy fire in the wood stove and a c up of hot chocolate in hand. We are well into October and Halloween is approaching. If you don’t like Halloween, how about “All-Soul’s Night” and “All- Saint’s Day” instead? Festivals marking the end of the growing season seemed also to have evoked the memory of those who’ve gone on. Our Hal
I get a gold star this year for having my plant orders ready early. Last year several plants that I wanted were gone by March. I think people were shut in, bored, and were desperately wanting spring to come. That might well be true of this winter too. So --- I’m ready to call/send them in. I’m also ordering less. It’s an unhappy realization that the energy I have must be portioned out carefully --- and Kerm’s energy too. Dreaming about gardens is my panacea when winter annoys; I just need
February in the Finger Lakes is like a mild case of the flu. Instead of sneezing and coughing, however, our symptoms are less patience with and more grumbles about cold, snow, graupel, ice and slush. We will assuredly survive, but we are ready for more sun and a few signs of spring. Yesterday was a good start! I try to look at winter as a performance and I’m interested to see how the scenes play out. Will Acts I & II (mid-December- Mid February) bring cold and blizzards, or will it be a
The Autumn Equinox has just passed and we are officially in the delightful fall season. The leaves are beginning to turn and the garden is shutting down. I’m making small stabs at fall cleaning as the crisper air gives me more energy. Note the “small” and “stabs”. Today the rains are pelting down and there is no crispness to the air --- but that is typical for the turning of the season.
Happy Anniversary to Shawn and Kristen! Their wedding, a few years ago, was a fine day in the park w
We’ve decorated, baked, caroled and the Season of Noel is approaching its end. We do have until January 6th ---- 12th Night ---- before we must pack the shiny ornaments away and we head into true winter. It has been two weeks of being together with friends and family, good church services and special music. One of our remaining tasks would be sending out Christmas cards. We have more time now, to write notes.
New Year’s Eve is coming and it is, for many, a time of merriment and partyin
Turkeys can now relax; their season is over while we humans have stepped from November (Thanksgiving) into December (Christmas) with hardly a moment of transition. We are one week into Advent; hanging of the greens at church occurred this past Sunday. For nearly all faiths, this is the Season of Lights. Pagan holidays emphasized light because December brings the longest nights of the year, and asking the gods to send the sun’s light again seemed a survival necessity. The Jewish Chanukah cele
