A Welcome Sound

This past summer, the Hudson Valley was dry and hot.  Ponds disappeared, turning beautiful vistas into tableaux of mud.  Turtles abandoned a log beached in waterless ooze.  Fewer insects meant fewer birds and dragonflies.  A catastrophe, albeit of a minor sort when thought of against the world at large.

Moving in Circles

This time of year, I think a lot about the cyclical nature of things. It seems like only yesterday that I was watching daffodils and tulips come up. Now it is time to trim back gardens and enjoy autumn's mums and sedum. The warm afternoons will give way to frosty mornings which will give way to snowstorms which in turn will lead us back to spring sunshine.

Raining Acorns Redux

Today marks our first anniversary.

To mark the day, we are re-posting the inaugural post.

It’s raining acorns.  Last year I thought the sound was squirrels, harrying the leaves.  The sounds were scattered though, in space and time.  That should have been a clue, but I was too much a novice to connect the acorns strewn across our driveway with the noises in the woods.

The End of Daylight Savings Time

For those of us who are not, by nature, early risers, it’s unclear whether the end of daylight savings time is friend or foe.  In the morning, we make it a point of honor not to rise in the dark.  The end of daylight savings time foils our resolve, for daybreak arrives too early and wakes us up.

Abundance

A few days ago, when the cold weather lifted, the ladybugs were first to know.  They spun in the air and clung to the shingles.  They slipped inside the house and parked on the ceiling, hung from shade pulleys, and hugged the window screens.

Raining Acorns

It’s raining acorns. Last year I thought the sound was squirrels, harrying the leaves. The sounds were scattered though, in space and time. That should have been a clue, but I was too much a novice to connect the acorns strewn across our driveway with the noises in the woods.