OCTOBER EARLY FALL

The sun is warm as mid-morning advances. Some yellows begin to color witch hazel leaves masking their small but fragrant blooms. So sad the glory of season’s last blooming, unlike the first blossoms of spring, is lost among the dying.

 Cherry trees and nut trees, walnut, hickory, butternut also glow yellow in my morning sun, but this year many ash are succumbing to a new borer and next spring will not leaf out. Each breath of wind brings down more sere, brown and lifeless leaves from my ash. Its shade on my deck will be sorely missed come summer next but even worse the death of so many forest ash, for many years the woods will be scarred by their loss.  

Seems but yesterday the white pine began to brown older needles in response to dark’s daily lengthening. Around the equinoxes, vernal or autumnal, the day’s duration changes most rapidly. In summer and winter, the solstices the changes are the slowest. Soon a light brown mulch of needles will cover bare beneath the trees and tinge only lightly brown the green  grass.

RHODODENDRON MORNING

This morning from my keyboard, the valley is bathed in early day, gold cast sun, as distant green glows bright from between shadowed boles and evergreens. When light is cascaded throughout it’s way distance separates. There is a near, there is a far.

 Now clouds have enveloped, flattened. Far is lost as near is clear. Gone the special distant morning dear. Smaller my world is to me! 

As I look out the window the rhododendron blooms, heat shortened, but lovely still. So cold in winter it’s look, now proclaiming it is late spring. 

EARLY MAY

Just sat down upon my lawn swing to enjoy the morning before the spring thunder storms develop later. Just now a slight breeze and a blizzard of cherry blossom petals snowed upon me. Another phase of spring passing as cherry and wild pear blossom shed white, their time for bloom is almost done. Next to bless with beauty will be the many apple and crab apple trees with some white and and many shades of pink and red.

Down in the former greenhouse gardens forsythia and magnolia trees, both white and purple, continue to bloom. The white star magnolia about done, the purple, a variety called "Betty" has just begun. 

This spring has been good, fairly dry, quite sunny and not too hot. 
Just thought you would like to know.

MID-APRIL WORDS

April 17, 2013     
                              
    Mid-April the sun is warm, a slight drift from the north renders cool the shade. Better a cool dry April with little mud and not excessive heat. Spring last year, like the winter, never was, from freeze to summer in March and then very damaging frosty nights late April when all was too advanced. With early leafing and flowering, so different was the sun, much lower on the horizon, when spring was quickly sprung.    

    Today the first bud break of spring, wild rose and honeysuckle leaves. Other woody buds are swelling, but these show true color and begin to mist the woods with green and tinge red. Some winter rosettes of perennial plants color a bit earlier, even at first melt of snow, but no new growth perceived on most yet.