It seems only yesterday that I was on the cusp of Thanksgiving, wondering how summer had become but a memory. Now the winter solstice is here, with Christmas and a New Year looming.
The obvious question is this: where did Autumn go?
At the back of my mind is something more elemental.
How do I slow down the passage of time?
It’s getting annoying. The constant, imperious interruptions. Can’t a girl get some peace?
I have been promising Wild Edge readers a Finger Lakes series for weeks. But every time I try to sit down and edit the photos, something else intervenes. From outside my window, the call comes, beckoning – no, demanding.
GO OUTSIDE. BRING YOUR CAMERA. NOT LATER.
NOW.
I tried, but failed, to resist the siren song of September. October was no different. It’s the trees this time. Changing day-by-day to brilliant gold and crimson. The march of the seasons goes relentlessly on, no matter what. One ignores it at one’s peril.
Once again, I am at Lady Autumn’s command.
Once upon a time, feeling neglected, Lady Autumn wept.
And the Court of the Seasons’ calendar pages turned. It wasn’t long before the Court Photographer awoke to see the calendar had turned to an entirely new year. Startled to find herself deep in the Winter Queen’s leafless territory, she wondered where the Autumn Lady had gone.
“How can it be that I have missed my Lady’s appearance?” she cried. “Surely it was just yesterday that the Summer Queen and I were hunting for mushrooms. What happened to Autumn?” Continue reading
FUN FACT: Sunflowers are composite flowers, where all is not what it seems. What look like petals are actually infertile ray flowers that attract vital pollinator species to the plant. The center of the sunflower is made up of hundreds of small flowers, each with five petals, a male stamen and a female stigma, where pollination takes place.
Grasshopper.
Soybean pods.
Squash.
Wheel Bug, Arilus cristatus.
FUN FACT: One of a group of true bugs known as assassin bugs, in the ambush bug family, Reduviidae. They eat soft-bodied insects, stink bugs and, as we witnessed, bees. A wheel bug injects enzyme-laced saliva into its prey, which paralyzes the victim and liquefies their internal parts, which the wheel bug proceeds to consume. Yuck! Adding to their allure, they inflict a painful bite on humans.
They have their good side, though; many of their preferred prey are pests, so they are welcomed in gardens and on farms. And they just look cool.
This gourd looked just like a goose to me. I took him home and cleaned him up.
Behold – Gourdon Goose.
Left behind.
Looking back on a fun fall day on the farm.
The Wild Edge 