Autumnal Abundance

Golden October is once again weaving her spell and dappling the hills with fiery color, as maple, beech and birch respond to cold nights and warm days.

It is a most magical season to be in New England... rampant beauty is popping up everywhere as each area reaches peak...The smell of smoke from recently lit wood stoves and the delicious aroma of wet earth, fallen leaves and fresh air is pervasive in my woods.
With brilliant blue skies and dappled sun, my earthbound form of Heaven manifests all around me...
The farmers' markets along the roads feature the abundance of the season and mountains of apples and mums delight the eye. Pumpkins, gourds and squashes in heirloom varieties add their unique shapes and colors to the sumptuous feast...

Visitors from around the country and the globe join us this weekend in celebrating these natural wonders.
Wishing you all a stunning Autumn, wherever you are...

 

The Blessings of Bears

The summer has been cool and fleeting here in New England.
Scattered throughout the lush woods, random maple leaves have assumed fiery shades and an early Autumn seems in our future. Most of us are having mixed feeling about that...
The vegetation has thrived with all the dramatic rain storms and berries and mushrooms have been abundant, bears as well.
The distinctively marked female that I have watched for over three years now has not been sighted, but her two cubs, now a year old have visited fairly often. The male was persistent in his pursuit of the battered old feeder, put out for the returning grosbeaks and songbirds, early on, but has been infrequent of late.
This has allowed the shy sister to bring her adorable three cubs by. She is so gentle with them and they are so mindful of her silent direction, that these brief glimpses of their relationship is a treasure.
They sit like amazingly well-mannered toddlers as she looks about until she urges them on, when they roll and tumble after her, playing tag in her wake. In a few minutes they are gone but I am blessed by the experience.
I have shared these woods with my ursine friends for 21 years and besides a missing feeder or two in the early Spring, I have never had other than courteous treatment from these beautiful, shy creatures.
I wish them all safe passage in the challenging seasons to come here in the wooded hills.

The Icy Grip of Winter...

Arctic vortexes bringing ice, snow and wind chills of -24 degrees F. have made the start of 2014 a challenge for those of us in New England.

Winter’s icy grip has even surprised the Deep South creating havoc on roads, freezing pipes and causing power outages there and throughout the USA.

New Englanders usually embrace the season and the magical transmutation that snow and silence conjure in rural pastures and wooded hills.

I share this enthusiasm, but bitter wind and slippery roads have made even usually stoic

friends moan and stay in to enjoy a good book beside the wood stove…

The plucky little chickadees and the assorted titmice, finches and juncos that hangout with them are enjoying the abundance of sunflower seeds I’ve been providing to keep them fueled up, as the North winds blow.

Likewise, the feral cats that inhabit these winter woods with owls, fishers, raccoons, coyotes and bobcats are out looking for nourishment. 

I love seeing the overlapping patterns their tracks make as they crisscross the yard.

They all seem to fare better than the deer eating my yew hedge down to the trunks and nibbling arbor vitae trees to far above their heads.

My heart goes out to all of them on these nights that fall well below zero.

The maple sugaring season is in the wings and preparations are being made to tap that golden nectar of the Yankee gods for another year.

Soon enough, we’ll be complaining about mud season on our 18^th C. dirt roads and Spring will be in the air.

But for now we’ll celebrate the brilliant sun on sparkling snow and the steady lengthening of the days…

Summer Solstice / Long Days Time

After many weeks of heavy rain, blustery wind, and fire in the woodstove to cancel the persistent chill, the Summer Solstice has arrived in splendid fashion.

Brilliant sun falls through the lush foliage, woven into a living tapestry around my woodland home.

Golden-green light suffuses the air, as tree boughs bend and dip in the benign breeze.

The resident creatures emit a collective sigh of pleasure to find themselves under a cerulean sky, basking in warm sun or lolling in cool shade, after a challenging spring.

The nesting birds have had the hardest time, violently tossed about in the frequent storms as arctic fronts clashed with humid weather from the south.

It seems the black bears have fared better. They shyly emerge in my yard from time to time, coats glossy blue-black and radiating good health, despite the long winter and raw spring.

Butterflies and bees seem more plentiful this year, as the late-blooming rhododendron opens her fuchsia flowers and irresistibly draws them near, en masse.

The Long Days Time arrives with the Solstice, as Nature starts to slow her pace and put efforts toward the growing fruit. The Long Days Time announces the fulfillment of spring’s promise of abundance resulting from a firm rooting in the Earth. It is the first of the three cycles of the summer season

 Today is the height of the year, the Zenith Sun, the longest day and shortest night…

It was a magical time in cultures around the world for many centuries. Bonfires blazed and blessings were petitioned for with cake and ale…

It is still a cherished time for humanity as a whole, as we slow down and savor the beauty of the season.

May your gardens be fruitful and good times plentiful, as you gather to celebrate the summer days to come.

A Sparkling Winter's Day

The snow is deep again in these craggy New England hills.

A surprise thaw had removed it all and then the “historic” storm replaced it, days later. We bask today in brilliant sun, reflecting off the pristine layer that arrived in the hours before dawn.

I ventured out on snowshoes into my woods early this morning, to savor the beauty and enjoy the crisp, fresh air. As I crunched along an old logging road I was accompanied by a cheerful band of chickadees that are my daily companions during the winter months.

The male cardinals were beginning to call, hidden atop the hemlock trees, sadly depriving me of their brilliant crimson plumage on this Valentine’s Day.

I crossed many trails of deer, their deep footprints a shadowy blue in the diagonals of sunlight falling through the bare trees. I had spotted a young doe after the melt and was shocked to see a young fawn trying to keep up with her. It was good to see no signs of them in the mounting drifts. The erratic weather has upset all the natural cycles it seems.

The distinctive print of a lone wolf soon caught my eye, snaking back and forth through the deer tracks. Sometimes he howls late at night advertising for a new companion. He lost his mate two or three winters ago now. I thought I heard an answer once but way off in the distance.

Red foxes are courting despite the chill and barred owls shout out their ardent mating calls. Love is indeed in the air…

Many cold days still lay ahead, but one by one, we persevere, we make it through the darkness of another winter and into the light of Spring.

 

Hang in there, oh despairing ones… and a happy Valentine’s Day to each and all!

"Painting with Beads"

Before the richly saturated colors of Autumn transform the landscape, I am finding the last blasts of summer floral color against the endless green inspiring.
For talented tribal artists and artisans around the world, the primary colors in the form of tiny seed beads transform personal and utilitarian objects into portable works of art.
Nimble fingers sew, string, and embed red, yellow, blue, black, white beads into traditional geometric or organic patterns from nature that have deep significance to their cultural backgrounds. Others may just express the maker's sheer joy of beauty and the pleasure derived from art making.
Either way, I will consciously take inspiration from the women before me who "paint" so effectively with tiny glass beads.
And I'll hope to emulate their patience and humor as I begin my Fall designs in the stones, beads and silver that I have gathered for this purpose. Especially when less than nimble fingers let a loaded strand slip and send beads rolling across the studio floor!
Here's a glimpse of beaded treasure from my collection that will stoke my creative fires...

 

The Last Days of Summer...

Where have the days, weeks, months gone....
As we kick off the last official holiday weekend of the Summer here in the US, I am feeling a bit befuddled.
The lush green foliage is still abundant but tell-tale signs of an early Autumn are everywhere.
The resident wildlife is obviously confused as well, the hummingbirds are still about and a mama bear had two darling but very young cubs following her several weeks back.
The cats and I will take advantage of the perfect weather and relax outdoors surrounded by the chorus of crickets, cicadas and wood frogs ... Wishing you and yours a most enjoyable Labor Day!