city street today

This just in from Carrie.  Looks like leaves are falling in Cambridge also.

the woods today

We just took what might be our last walk in the woods for the next four days. A storm is coming; Hurricane Sandy heading up the coast. I can feel it in the coolness in the air, the stillness all around, the light mist of rain, the overcast sky. Calley curled up on her bed and didn't show much interest in taking a walk. She knows something is in the air and that she might as well curl up into a brown ball and wait it out. The worst of the storm should hit Massachusetts tomorrow.

the family grows

My bother John. Proud grandfather in Hong Kong.

Welcome back to the states!!

A tribute!

To the most vocal of my followers; the one who leaves a comment no matter what the content of each blog entry.

To my brother, Don, I wish you a Happy Birthday today and best wishes for a happy, healthy, creative year ahead. L, B.

missing new england?

October is the month of painted leaves. Their rich glow now flashes round the world. As fruits and leaves and the day itself acquire a bright tint, just before they fall, so the year is near its setting. 

October is the sunset sky; November the later twilight.

-Henry David Thoreau

   

This post is for my readers who love New England fall but are far away. I know there are many of you out there. Most of my family, actually! So here is a dose of red maple, gray stone wall and mighty pine for those of you who are missing fall this year. Did you see David and Calley in one of the photos?

David, Calley and I spent three hours walking in Estabrook Woods this afternoon in Concord and Carlisle.  We didn't really mean to spend three hours but we got lost in the late afternoon shadows and ended up on Monument Street near Fenn School when we meant to come out at the end of Liberty Street on Estabrook Road.

The good thing about the detour was that we passed some great stone walls that I barely notice when I am driving. The best way to see the landscape is on foot and I know Henry David would agree with me.

last of the season

Gus is Six!

Happy Birthday to my grandnephew out there in Portland, Oregon!

nest

Fall chores around here include taking screens off all the windows and storing them in the barn, replacing screen doors with storm doors and pulling up tomato plants and cucumber vines from the garden. We leave the still hardy chard and kale undisturbed. They are fall plants and love the cooler weather. We stuff their leaves into the Blendtec each morning and grind them up with bananas, frozen blueberries and other mysterious healthy things. What a great breakfast!

Another fall ritual is removing the nest from above the front porch light. Every spring without fail the nest building begins. A scattering of moss and dirt on the porch floor are the first sign. I look up to see the foundation being laid. Every nest has a similar shape but the materials vary year to year. I often wonder what piece of my life will be woven into this temporary home. One year it was woven thick with our dog Niki's blond fur. This year it is composed of hay from our compost pile and a few strands of pale green plastic. Pushing the soft feathers aside, I found an egg. A piece of information left behind. The mother bird is so fast, rushing from the nest when the front door is open that I have been unable to identify her species. Her coloring is bland. Grey brown. A sparrow? Barn swallow? I can check Peterson's Guide to Birds  based on the color and size of this little egg.

Birds return to where they were born. There's no changing their minds. By next spring I will meet the next generation and hopefully call her by name.

nasturium

Flowers for the center of the table in Writing Class today. They even smell good. Peppery. Edible.
I will never tire of the round nasturium leaf holding drops of the morning dew.

Heading out on Tuesday

Boots at the ready on the porch at HMI to do trail work on Mt Missouri and if there isn't too much SNOW,  to summit it as well. Eliza is the Expedition Leader for this trip. Leaving October 2, returning to school on October 12.
Wishing you all good weather and great hiking and warm, dry nights in your sleeping bags!

Facts: Mt. Missouri is a 14,000 footer, reaching 14, 067 at the peak. It is in three towns; Leadville, Buena Vista and Granite, Colorado.

Hutchins Farm Concord, Massachusetts

Apple season officially here. Thinking of you Sylvia! You started the tradition right here in Lincoln when you made apple sauce here on weekends away from dorm life at Andover. Now I do it every year and think of you. How did the California apple sauce work out?