Friday, 21 October 2022
Closing the cottage requires a long, long to-do list. Check, check, and check. The most time-consuming activities center around the water system, draining and setting it up for winter cold in such a way that no pipes or valves are cracked or broken. However, there are myriad other chores, plus it’s nice to get the floor swept and other cleaning accomplished that isn’t strictly necessary. We did everything we could think of. Bien hecho.
Thursday, 20 October 2022
Single best visual find in months: the icy cap on these wee mushroom caps. What texture! What subtlety! What ephemera!
This, on the other hand, is mostly a color mosaic. I’m amazed how many leaves are still on the tree, and still colorful, with that blanket of the fallen foliar fragments.
Wednesday, 19 October 2022
We’ve gotten a fair amount of rain and snow over the last two days, yet the precip hasn’t been constant. Still, the water level in the swamp is up markedly.
In other swamp news, the tamaracks are turning golden. They are deciduous conifers and have needles, or plant parts that look like needles. They aren’t as large as leaves, so they produce a cloud of color around the trees.
Tuesday, 18 October 2022
I awakened at my usual time, around 6:30am, and stumbled downstairs. Actually, I had to make sure I didn’t stumble, because it was dark dark dark—as in, yes, it’s dark at that hour, but it was also dark because the power was out.
So, I went back to bed. Where it was warm.
Later when there was some light outside, I got up and made a fire in the stove, and we began to feel like things would be okay when I remembered we had some essentially instant Starbucks we got as an experiment. This was easier than looking in the way back of the deepest cupboard for old stove-top based coffee making technology.
Sometime after 11am, the electric returned—and stayed on (several early restarts had no staying power). The photo is later, almost 2pm, when the snow had changed to rain, and the white-stuff was half-melted. It stayed windy all day, and there’s more wind and white coming. We do have enough firewood (albeit damp). And dry birch-bark fire starter. We are tough cookies.
Monday, 17 October 2022
This has been one of my favorite shots this year to get at the progression of the autumn leaf color changes. There’s so much less green than five days ago, and the leaves are blown onto the road.
And this is the lake from the beach, always a go-to shot for me. It often portrays/offers a kind of peace, I think, despite cold raindrops (not really rain, just drops—and not mist).
Yesterday afternoon, I started a fire in the wood stove (which, it turns out, is a coal model, by Kenmore), and with no good keeper wood (only damp pine), I loaded it and left it to burn itself out even before we went to bed. I think the temperature indoors reached almost ninety big F degrees, and the walls and floor were thoroughly warmed. Even with outdoor temps in the upper thirties overnight, the indoor temp only dropped to sixty-six by the stove by the time I got up (late, about 7:15). Today, we’ve used our small electric heater, and are comfy.
Sunshine visited us several times (vaguely present in first photo), and rain drops blew around periodically—an unsettled fall day. We’re looking at closing up the cottage and leaving on Friday. In the meantime, snow is predicted overnight although we’ll see if it gets cold enough at elevation; otherwise it’ll be rain, as it has been during the daytime.
Sunday, 16 October 2022
Sometimes oft-repeated sayings are a bit off the mark. Around here, you often hear a version of “if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.” Or an hour, or a few hours. This is a valid observation, including the variable time-frame.
Those white striations on the lake-surface above? Ice bits. Likely from a quiet bay to the west—berg-lets coasting by. And in this photo, two hours later and from our beach, all cool, but not frozen—no mini-bergs. [We didn’t even have a frost, on land, at our place. The threat of winter is real. And pending.]
Saturday, 15 October 2022
This density of apples under the apple tree suggests they’re not tasty, as in: the deer are not eating this tree’s product. [Yet.]
Because the deer are sure eating apples with abandon. And browsing grass. They are piling on calories as the weather turns cool, then cooler.
Hypothesis: this tree was planted to be a pollinator. No one left to ask about this, meaning mostly The Botanist, I suppose.
Friday, 14 October 2022
Overall update: the maple still has green and yet has dropped many leaves.
Found these rowan berries when I was out for a stroll, assessing the outdoor chore situation for before we leave (currently looking at next Wednesday, although the weather prognosticators often change their tune).
Speaking of chores, I pruned back this woody honeysuckle earlier. Now that most of the leaves (they’re small) have fallen, I can see that the branches are populated by many interesting flora. [How many species here? My guess is at least five….]
Thursday, 13 October 2022
You meaning my approximately five regular readers. And my guess is there are no, or nearly no, irregular readers.
Otherwise: multicolor maple splendor.
Oh, the lucky part? That I posted early. Woohoo! Rain and whatnot changes my rhythms. And rain just came in; it’s to last into the 10pm hour. Subsequently, the temps will drop into the 30s (The App indicates).
You would be right if you guess we’re scrutinizing the long-range forecast for a “nice” day for closing the cottage and skedaddling. Nothing locked in yet.
Wednesday, 12 October 2022
Most of the day was windy and overcast, with spitting rain. Then, a miracle—sunshine as I was beginning to fix dinner. No, it didn’t last, yet it brought a glow to the evening.
When I walk or drive through this alley, I enjoy it every time. The yellow-golds are now (mostly) ascendant.