I can’t properly describe how beautiful this late-arriving fall weather is. The breeze, the taste of the air, the snakeroot flowers with their exotic smells, the light, the morning mist… ugh! It’s captivating. The roadsides pink and purple with native aster. All chores outside feel like a present. I’m reminded of being in Stockholm in September 2017 and having these same fall sensations. I felt so at home I drank it in. My senses positively
I definitely weirded out a barista yesterday by telling him about the beautiful and huge web a spider had built over the side door to their building.
I love how all the plants are decadently overgrown this time of year - you can tell they're trying to capture every last but of sunlight before the frost comes
Several years ago,a Northern Harrier swooped down and hit me in the head! I was walking along the side of my house towards the back yard when I suddenly saw movement just above me and instinctively ducked. it was mid March,I think,here in western New York state and I was wearing a wool "watch cap" and had my hood up when the birds talons hit my head so it didn't hurt. ..but boy was I surprised!
I turned around to see as it landed low in the neighbors small shade tree. clearly a Harrier. I'm pretty sure it was stalking the small birds that frequent our back yard feeder and it saw me as either a threat or competition for food.
This happened right in the city,by the way! Not out in the country at all!
A few years ago, I heard a whippoorwill outside of my house one night. It was so distinctly one because it was literally saying its name! Haven’t heard it since, but it was such a remarkable sound. I also love hearing owls at night. We have a family of red shouldered hawks that live in the neighborhood, so I hear them during the day, and I heard a Cooper’s hawk two mornings ago. That was a new one. Birds are my favorite!
Fall is my favorite season. I love the changing leaves, not so much because of the brilliant colors (well, ok, that too) but because of my fascination with noticing the gradual shifts, the individual variations in how the shifts occur, and how quickly, and how synced in to the changing slant of the sun they are. For me it's sort of the seasonal equivalent of polyrhythm. While the brilliant colors are festive and exciting, the real prize to me is that small amount of time where the brilliant colors have faded or fallen, and there's a sense of quiet, peaceful melancholy that I get if I pay close enough attention to see the more subtle, muted variations in color that are still there.
This piece had me time travelling from the now racing back decades. Walking to school in Brooklyn. Walks with my kids in the park near our home. Sitting this morning on the steps hearing the first whispers of drying leaves.
Autumns pure air never fails to console me. Thank you for the feel and the sight through your eyes of those birds that still make me imagine.
All these beautiful descriptions, and I am in agreement with them, but one of my happiest moments is when all the mosquitoes are DEAD!! 😂 I am a Mosquito Magnet.
That cooler morning breeze that allows me to add another layer to the bed is my favorite sign, the tilt of the light, the orb weaver webs, and the growing number of butterflies passing through are the things I look forward to every year!
I love the gradations of color on leaves mid-turn.
And this year specifically, a mystery friend that looks like a ghostly white acorn squash, self-planted in a patch of lawn that I’d have imagined unplantable. Apparently, if something wants to grow, it’s gonna.
Wow, you so perfectly described my feelings about fall. Here at the opposite end of VT, the air is just delicious! Also, all my favorite fall festivals starting this weekend!
"the greens were gothic" is my new favorite word combination
On Tuesdee my sister saw two moose, a bear, partridge and two deer. Was glad to make it home from work. Two moose again this morning.
It took me living in northern Sweden to notice what I had failed to notice growing up in Los Angeles.
Thanks for reminding me of this.
I definitely weirded out a barista yesterday by telling him about the beautiful and huge web a spider had built over the side door to their building.
I love how all the plants are decadently overgrown this time of year - you can tell they're trying to capture every last but of sunlight before the frost comes
Several years ago,a Northern Harrier swooped down and hit me in the head! I was walking along the side of my house towards the back yard when I suddenly saw movement just above me and instinctively ducked. it was mid March,I think,here in western New York state and I was wearing a wool "watch cap" and had my hood up when the birds talons hit my head so it didn't hurt. ..but boy was I surprised!
I turned around to see as it landed low in the neighbors small shade tree. clearly a Harrier. I'm pretty sure it was stalking the small birds that frequent our back yard feeder and it saw me as either a threat or competition for food.
This happened right in the city,by the way! Not out in the country at all!
No harm done and I got a cool story out of it.
In answer to your question: The otherworldliness of a pink sky at dusk—always so fleeting. For a moment, it's like living within a painting.
Barred Owls, Screech Owls... all birds at night! Never seen, but heard, loud and clear.
A few years ago, I heard a whippoorwill outside of my house one night. It was so distinctly one because it was literally saying its name! Haven’t heard it since, but it was such a remarkable sound. I also love hearing owls at night. We have a family of red shouldered hawks that live in the neighborhood, so I hear them during the day, and I heard a Cooper’s hawk two mornings ago. That was a new one. Birds are my favorite!
Fall is my favorite season. I love the changing leaves, not so much because of the brilliant colors (well, ok, that too) but because of my fascination with noticing the gradual shifts, the individual variations in how the shifts occur, and how quickly, and how synced in to the changing slant of the sun they are. For me it's sort of the seasonal equivalent of polyrhythm. While the brilliant colors are festive and exciting, the real prize to me is that small amount of time where the brilliant colors have faded or fallen, and there's a sense of quiet, peaceful melancholy that I get if I pay close enough attention to see the more subtle, muted variations in color that are still there.
This piece had me time travelling from the now racing back decades. Walking to school in Brooklyn. Walks with my kids in the park near our home. Sitting this morning on the steps hearing the first whispers of drying leaves.
Autumns pure air never fails to console me. Thank you for the feel and the sight through your eyes of those birds that still make me imagine.
All these beautiful descriptions, and I am in agreement with them, but one of my happiest moments is when all the mosquitoes are DEAD!! 😂 I am a Mosquito Magnet.
That cooler morning breeze that allows me to add another layer to the bed is my favorite sign, the tilt of the light, the orb weaver webs, and the growing number of butterflies passing through are the things I look forward to every year!
"All chores outside feel like a present." Nailed it. Looking forward to being outside and chopping firewood (!) before the rain starts again.
I love the gradations of color on leaves mid-turn.
And this year specifically, a mystery friend that looks like a ghostly white acorn squash, self-planted in a patch of lawn that I’d have imagined unplantable. Apparently, if something wants to grow, it’s gonna.
The shower of tiny neon gold honey locust leaves falling down in the wind
When the fall nights cool down the house, and you find the perfect temperature under the covers.
Wow, you so perfectly described my feelings about fall. Here at the opposite end of VT, the air is just delicious! Also, all my favorite fall festivals starting this weekend!