I began writing this post two days ago, when it was warm and humid. There were subtle signals to the end of summer; a few leaves littering the driveway, squirrels and chipmunks frantically gathering winter stores. There is still a halo of green surrounding my work space, and it’s just warm enough to have my office outside. It’s the nature of autumn to change quickly though. Now as I edit this post, I’m bundled up, trying to hold on to the last of summer.
Just when I think all the humming birds have all flown south, I see one slip in for a sip from the feeder. Sometime during the day Sunday the flocks of young robins left for warmer climates. The year round residents, woodpeckers, blue jays robins and cardinals are all that’s left to fill the silence. The tree frogs, like my buddy in the photo, are even quiet today.
the lake park
Piney Run Lake is a small recreational lake in my area. Sometimes I see it referred to as a reservoir but I don’t know how much water it actually provides to the community. If you want to take a fishing boat out but don’t want to tow it to the Bay, this is really the only place in the county.
On one of the warmer days last week, I decided to drive to the park. I was surprised by the number of boats on the lake at 11:30 on a Wednesday morning. People were sharing my idea of holding onto summer as long as they could.
The day was warm and the water was clear. Fish and frogs were jumping, but the orange and yellow leaves floating in the current kept reminding me of summer’s end.
As I was hiking I heard quite a loud bit of movement through the woods ahead. Squirrels in the woods can make as much noise as Godzilla when they want to. The shadow to my right was no squirrel though, so I stopped to wait for what was coming. I wish I thought to lift my camera then, because a doe and buck strolled right passed me, oblivious to my presence. They couldn’t have been more than about 15 feet up the hill from me.
lily pad lake
Dense mats of water lilies blanket the shorelines and coves. We took a canoe out on the lake over the 4th of July weekend and found coves like this one so overgrown they are almost difficult to navigate. We could have pushed our way through, but I felt a pang of guilt each time my oar disturbed a pad.
This past July was the first time in a while we had been to the lake. The last time we took a boat out, years ago, I didn’t remember such dense areas of water lilies. If this lake is used as a water source I can see the logic in allowing the lily mats to spread. Among other benefits water lilies can decrease the evaporation rate in shallow areas of still lakes.
Scattered all over the woods are bushes bursting with bright berries of red, purple, orange and yellow. These berries will sustain the non-migratory birds throughout the winter when the bugs become scarce.
one for the road
I read yesterday here in the mid Atlantic US we are losing 2.5 minutes of light a day. The time to enjoy the outdoors is growing short. There are fewer opportunities left to enjoy late afternoons on the patio just watching the world go by. If the weather cooperates, and you have the time, lift a toast to March. When the days will be longer and there is hope for warmth to come.
For one year, I think it would be fun to live from April to September right here in Maryland, then spend October to March in a southern hemisphere locality. Would I miss winter? Would the holidays feel funny in summer? For anyone in the southern hemisphere…enjoy the coming season!
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