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Autumn Rambles

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Before it gets any later in the year, I had better share an autumn walk that Shila and I took on November 5, sort of a post-election celebration. We were both too keyed up and excited to get much done, and when it hits 72 in the first week of November, you can't just stay home hunkered over a smoking computer. Even now, as I write this on November 9, these photos look hopelessly verdant and lush. In the last two days, almost all the leaves have cascaded to the ground. They hung on as long as they could. I can't remember a fall when there wasn't a big rain and wind event in October that ripped the beautiful leaves off the trees. This fall, they hung on until they got tired, and one gentle rain November 7 took them to the ground. That's OK, I guess, but I miss them terribly. I'm not ready for the bare skeleton of winter.
This maple left a golden puddle beneath it. The huge pin oak by our mailbox dropped every leaf it owned overnight on November 8, and my Japanese maples have done the same.

We decided to walk to the beaver pond, to see what preparations they've made for winter. They have a huge larder of branches and twigs piled outside the lodge.
They'll spend cold days inside the warm lodge, diving in every now and then to grab a branch from the larder, which they'll haul up inside the lodge to eat in safety and comfort. How I would love to see inside the lodge, especially when the kits are born.

Chet Baker loves the beaver pond, but he sprinted on up the road to see what else he could see. I've quoted it before, but I always sing this Joni Mitchell verse when I watch Chet Baker in motion.

Well I'm learning
It's peaceful
With a good dog and some trees
Out of touch with the breakdown of the century
You're not gonna fix that up
Too easily

"Electricity"

6 comments:

"A good dog and some trees"? Oh yes.
That's all it takes.

The last leaves are falling now and I think I'm finally accepting the change. I might even embrace it. So, I know what that glorious 72 degree walk felt like.

I always enjoy seeing the Bacon trail!

Having a beaver lodge so close would thrill me.
And as much as I, too, miss the leafy life of summer in the woods, seeing it halt for a moment and catch it's breath--somehow is its own "excitement."
Especially imagining a family of beavers in the spring.

I think the leaves held on this year to learn the outcome of the election. Only then did they feel comfortable enough to bare themselves for the harsh winter.

A good dog and some trees are indeed all it takes. Seeing them root and run through the fallen leaves? PRICELESS

Until I started reading your blog, I had no idea Ohio could be so beautiful. I've only seen the bits you see when driving through on your way to somewhere else. Now I want to come see it - beaver pond and birds included.

Hi Julie- Thanks for the all the fabulous photos from your walks. I miss being in Virgina and going for walks but we will head home the second week of December as Ellie has finished her treatment her at St. Jude. Woo Hoo. She has done well and we hope to have a full recovery.

Have a great Thanksgiving and give all your babies, including Chet Baker, a big squeeze.

-Colleen Bouchard
www.caringbridge.org/visit/ellie1

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