Thought for the day - September 23, 2000

Subject: Thought for the day - September 23, 2000
From: katlaughing
Date: 22 Sep 00 - 11:51 PM

Colours of officially the second day of autumn, in Wyoming:

white, soft, cold, slow-falling, noise-blanketing white. In daytime, reflecting the sun so brightly we all squint our eyes tightly, as though emerging from dens of hibernation on the wrong end of the seasons. It snowed on Friday and is supposed to continue throughout the weekend.

Pale wheat-yellow, dead grasses in our backyard let to grow wild, sticking their droopy heads up above the White Surprise on their now-spindly 3 foot stalks, some bent over in defeat under the weight of the huge flakes which cling to every inch of their being.

Bedraggled greens of various hues, leaves caught on the trees, unawares, no cold earlier to lessen the quickening of their sap, except up on the mountain. On the mountain, seemingly, one day the aspens were green, next day gold, then suddenly gone in a frenzy of lemming-like dives, leaving the stark naked branches reaching out as if to pull some clouds to cover themselves in modesty.

By Monday, I am sure the broader ranges of colours will return, some flowers will hold on to the last of fall; some trees will take their time about disrobing; and other colours will show in the flash of geese in the sky and in bright berries left when all else is gone from the vines.

What are your colours this fall?

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - September 23, 2000
From: Mbo
Date: 22 Sep 00 - 11:54 PM

Still green here!

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - September 23, 2000
From: Rich(bodhránai gan ciall)
Date: 23 Sep 00 - 12:12 AM

Still green in Pittsburgh and brown on the Earth(It's been rainy off and on and there's mud around. It's been going back and forth between chilly and then warm again. That usually gets on my nerves because it cuts my resistance to colds (and I it feels like one coming on soon.) I've been keeping a positive attitude thus far this year, cause it'll get cold soon enough. In the meantime it's kind of nice to have a nice chilly hot mulled cider kind of day and then a go out and play kind of day. How has everbody else's fall coming along so far.

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - September 23, 2000
From: Oversoul
Date: 23 Sep 00 - 12:38 AM

I am surrounded by a sea of asphalt and cement. But I have made a sanctuary of sumac in my little yard. Fernleaf, staghorn and a variety unknown (to me) from southern Indiana. Several kinds of birds are feasting on the cone-shaped crimson berries. I tread off to the woods far away to hunt squirrels and buy winter squash from a nearly blind lady who has a stand in her yard in Stillwell, on my way home. Her old dog is blind in one eye, and is always anxious to smell the woods, at my ankles. The scent of squirrel causes the tail to wag! The fact that I have glaucoma completes the picture! I love fall!

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - September 23, 2000
From: CarolC
Date: 23 Sep 00 - 12:53 AM

Green, green, green, green. (Don't want to think about fall don't want to think about winter still clinging to summer)

Carol

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - September 23, 2000
From: hesperis
Date: 23 Sep 00 - 01:45 AM

Green, with occasional splashes of gold, brown, or bright crimson. Green, forest green, grass green, leaf green, linden green, loden green, emerald green, sherwood green.

The Autumn Equinox was at 12-something pm on the 22nd, so blessings, all!

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - September 23, 2000
From: Escamillo
Date: 23 Sep 00 - 04:45 AM

It is good that our old Earth has variety. We in Buenos Aires are entering Spring and some flowers were born in my backyard, similar to that of Dave. Today I felt a little hot with my lightest coat, and my younger son Andrés refuses to use any kind of cloth. In November we will be sweating as tuaregs (do they sweat?) in the most humid city of South America. It's time to paint the house and make some mendings. Fortunately it will be time for the bar-b-q outside! Oh, why am I so materialist? yummm..

Un abrazo - Andrés

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - September 23, 2000
From: Micca
Date: 23 Sep 00 - 06:17 AM

Ah Andres, can you still get Beefa da loma(sp) (rare steak in a bread loaf) in Buenos Aires?? I remember it with great affection....better than hamburger any day.
Here in London in my little garden, the blackberries need picking, and the Virginia creeper is starting to show its age by turning bright red a little at a time, the Michaelmas daisies are a nice contrast in blue at the back corner of my tiny yard, and Aud has asked me to get wild bird mix from the pet shop for her birdfeeders, there were 2 blue tits (don't even think it Spaw) drinking at the birdbath this morning,and there have been a couple of evenings that needed the heating turned on already, it must indeed be autumn.

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - September 23, 2000
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 23 Sep 00 - 06:33 AM

My color this fall are..........
Reddish brown for the vegetarian chili I crave to keep me warm.
Forest green, brown & beigh for the fisherman's wool knit sweater jacket I zip up before going out on a cool morning.
I won't go into the color of the hanky I carry because my nose is always running in the fall. You don't want to know those colors.
And whatever colors are in fashion this fall when I buy a new outfit to go to synagogue for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The only thing religious about me is looking classy in temple.

Little Neo

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - September 23, 2000
From: bob schwarer
Date: 23 Sep 00 - 06:34 AM

What's snow?

Bob in FL

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - September 23, 2000
From: RichM
Date: 23 Sep 00 - 06:41 AM

In Ottawa: Eastern Ontario/Southern Quebec, it's still very green; but some trees are beginning to put on their autumn colors -not many, but some. The days are sunny, and warm, from late morning on. At night, and at dawn its cold enough to leave a heavy cool dew, and occasionally nip the late tomatoes.

The late summer flowers are still in glorious bloom. This is the prime season for my sunflowers and Jerusalem artichokes, on their long spindly stalks.

Rain is promised today, and we are playing at a small town agricultural fair. They did say, however, that the outdoor performance area has a covered stage, and some shelter for the audience.

It's my favorite time of year, tinged with a bit of trepidation. There is more than a hint of the approach of the long winter season. But before that, we will be treated to the glorious reds, yellows and browns of the fall foliage.
It's a good time to be here. May your own seasons give you all comfort and pleasure that the Earth is a good place to be.

Rich McCarthy

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - September 23, 2000
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 23 Sep 00 - 07:06 AM

Oh, kat, I thought of you when I heard about snow in Wyo! Here the leaves are starting to turn; there is a crispness in the air and the squirrels are ecstatic over the abundance of acorns- last year there were so few nuts that this year there are fewer squirrels and they don't know what to do with the richness of supply.
The colors are still predominently green, tinged with red and gold, more in the higher elevations (I'll be climbing Monadnock today to see the colors grow as I go!).
I love the changing times.

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - September 23, 2000
From: Naemanson
Date: 23 Sep 00 - 08:01 AM

This morning the colors stem largely from the was of red that filled the sky outside my bedroom window when I woke at dawn. As you move areound town you see an occasional tree that has begun the move into fall colors but mostly they are clinging to the green for a little while longer.

But we do have color. At one spot on my way into work I drive a mile of straight highway lined with trees. They seem to be changing color from the ground up. There are some bright red low bushes that line that corridor of green. Later in the fall the whole corridor will flare with bright oranges, reds, yellows and the occasional evergreen.

Our fall colors are late this year and I appreciate it. I am very busy at work in September and I rarely get to enjoy much of fall. Now I will be able to get out and shuffle around in the leaves and smell them in the air.

Have a great fall, everyone. And for our friends south of the equator, please enjoy your spring and the coming summer.

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - September 23, 2000
From: Dharmabum
Date: 23 Sep 00 - 08:18 AM

See the geese in chevron flight,

Flapping & racing on before the snow,

They've got the urge for goin,

But they've got a ways to go.

Ron.

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - September 23, 2000
From: Uncle Jaque
Date: 23 Sep 00 - 09:16 AM

Kat; I love your lyrical imagry. Autumn has always been my favorite time of year; subtle olfactory cues like the pungent fermentation of forest floor detrius mingled with a heady sweet fragrance from who knows where... the twittering of little birds and woodland creatures blending with the whisper of oncoming winter through the boughs and branches overhead, in a soft symphony... a requium to Summer? All this ressurects fond memories of the late hike, the hunt (gave it up years ago - not only am I too soft-hearted to shoot a critter, excepting perhaps a rat - but I was always really lousy at it)... I used to cradle my shotgun in the crook of my elbow, while my black Lab panted by my side, and inhale deeply of the forest's perfume. It is so sweetly intoxicating!
Dharmab: Did you write that Hiaku? (That IS Hiaku, isn't it?) Is it put to music yet? When the geese come over our town, they sound like dogs barking - and our 2 little Yorkie-Poos ("Trooper" the lab has long since crossed over) go ballistic! Was a time in youth when I yearned so to go with the wild geese.... but now I just watch them go and bid them Godspeed.
Uncle J., Maine

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - September 23, 2000
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Sep 00 - 09:47 AM

i will add more later, thank you all for sharing; for now, it is Saturady morning, almost 8am. The snow continues, we've 7-8 inches and the wind has picked up. Oh, why, oh why didn't we go to the grocery store, yesterday!?!**BG**

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - September 23, 2000
From: Sorcha
Date: 23 Sep 00 - 10:58 AM

It's a miserable day on the eastern edge of Wyoming; we have something between snow and rain. No accumulation except on car tops but it is looking like it will be "slick in spots" coming home from Jay Em Fun Days tonight.

The grapes over the patio are dark purple, peeking through the green leaves covered with snow. Red makes a statement with the aspargus berries and ripe tomatoes we missed picking. The rowan tree in the front yard has not decided whether to change colors or not--part green, part yellow, and part red with bright orange berries.

The bright yellow and orange marigolds are hanging tough, it will take more than this to kill them, and the broccoli flowers are poking pale yellow through clots of sloppy wet snow.

There are a few pale fuschia oregano flowers still struggling to turn into seeds, but the morning glories have given up and gone limp.

I would really rather stay inside with a cup of cocoa in front of the fireplace, but have to go play a Harvest Fest gig 30 miles north of here. They're serving chili, though, so it's not a total wash.

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - September 23, 2000
From: Dharmabum
Date: 23 Sep 00 - 11:10 AM

Uncle J. Wish I had written it. It's a verse from Joni Mitchels "Urge for Goin". It's always been one of my favorites.

Ron.

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - September 23, 2000
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Sep 00 - 12:36 PM

Sorcha, just be glad you don't have what we do a couple of hours West! And, be careful driving over to your gig, womon!

Our swamp cooler is still in the bedroom window, leaking cold air and snow like a seive. It's too windy for Rog to go out, climb a ladder and struggle with taking it down, so we taped plastic up over it, which promptly was blown out by the wind, so propped a huge piece of cardboard against it to reinforce the plastic. Couldn't nail it to the window frame, so we used one part of a futon bed frame to keep it up there. Our bedroom is now thawing out.

We laughed at ourselves. When we were first together, in 1979, we lived out of town about 10 miles, on the old Oregon Trail, on a small ranch of Roger's. It was primitive: concrete floors, unfinished ceilings, cinder block walls, no insulation; had to haul all of our water. The last winter we were there, they put in a water line and cut the gas line, accidentally. We heated with wood.

Its only saving grace was being built into the side of a hill, with windows all round and huge windows facing southeast with a glorious view of the mountain. Winters could get brutal out there, with us leaving the kids in town with my mom and showshoeing in or taking a snowcat, when available, to take care of the critters.

Anyway, taping up the plastic today, we started teasing one another about being "back on the ranch." It is fun to look back in nostalgia, but I can tell you, if we were really out there now, neither of us would be laughing. The drift at our front door(scroll down) is 3 feet; at the ranch that would translate to at least 5 if not more!

Ah, well, the 70's are coming on Monday. Nice ta hear from ya'll. Anyone have a snow shovel we can borrow?**BG**

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - September 23, 2000
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 23 Sep 00 - 12:44 PM

Kat Merlee is so cute and the views are gorgious!
As for the shovel, I wouldn't mind the honor of shovelling the snow for for you. Seems like where you live would be a nice place to do some shovelling.

Bonnie

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - September 23, 2000
From: JenEllen
Date: 23 Sep 00 - 05:15 PM

We got down to 26F last night. My colors on awakening were a furry mix of black & brown dogs and orange and white cats. I'd left the window open again, and they took advantage of the cold as an excuse to crawl into the bed!

Everyone always thinks rain when they think of Washington, but we have a gorgeous desert around our place. I made a barrel full of coffee and took it out to the guys that were finishing up the last of the hop harvest. All frosty clouds of expired breath and black vines against the pre-dawn sky.

I can't wait for snow, and thought of you Wyo Gals when I heard the news. Can I take turns shoveling with Bonnie? I don't know why, maybe it's rhythmic, but Drunken Sailor is my favorite snow-shoveling song...do you think they neighbors will mind??? *bg* And save me some of that VeggieChili too!

Cold hands wrapped round a warm cuppa, Love, Jen

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - September 23, 2000
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Sep 00 - 05:52 PM

My neighbours wouldn't mind ay all, I am sure, Jen. Sweet of you and Bonnie. Roger's attitude, is "God brought it; God can take it away!" And, he's not even what I'd call religious person!**BG**

He did use our shovel to work a path to his truck to run to Minimart, but generally I have my car in the garage, he opens it and I never have to put on snow boots which I hate! Right now the garage is full of our daughter's stuff, since she moved back in!

We also do have a gem of a neighbour, or he is just one of those guys who likes to play with his toys. Whenever he runs his snowblower, he does the sidewalk in front of our house, too! I give them flowers every spring as a thank you; doesn't seem an equal trade, but they seem to enjoy them.

All of this has prompted me to get out the first few chapters I wrote a few years ago about the ranch I spoke of a few posting ago. Watch for tomorrow's TFTD, as I think I will post just a snippet of one of them and a beautiful quote by Colette, about snow.

Thanks to you all. This has been fun to read throughout the snowbound day....kat