October 12, 2009

• Fall in New England

  As everyone who has ever looked at an illustrated calendar has observed, New England with its plethora of Maples, Birches, Oaks, and Puckerbrush is at its most beautiful this time of year. Looking across our lake, the islands and far shore are literally ablaze with Reds Oranges, Golds, and Rusts, punctuated with the dark green of the Spruce and Pine.
  Our bird feeder is under constant attack by the resident Chickadees, Nuthatches (both red-breasted and white-breasted) as well as a pretty aggressive Hairy Woodpecker. Our resident Red Squirrel has to wait her turn – which upsets her considerably. The ground under the feeder is overrun with Juncos and Chipmunks.
  Unfortunately, all this excitement means the birds and beasts are readying themselves for cold weather – as are the ladybugs – who find our nice warm cottage just to their liking and who have begun to scurry around in surprising places.
  Our neighbor has been patiently baiting one of our local bears (Stale donuts and molasses). I don’t know whether he has gotten more than automatic photos of it yet – or what he plans on doing with it when he does shoot it. Mainers do a lot of hunting and generally eat what they kill. We have no shortage of bears, moose, deer, partridge or turkeys and if you walk in the woods this time of year you had better not wear white and be sure you have on a blaze orange hat and vest.
  Our heaters and franklin stove can’t keep up with freezing weather – nor can we; so we are leaving shortly – following Fall down through the mountains all the way to North Georgia and then down to Florida’s “Forgotten Coast” – the panhandle area. We live about 15 miles south of Georgia and about 20 miles from the Gulf – a block from another lake – one where Canada Geese winter over and make their usual mess.

  • 11:01 am
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