Cats Chasing Leaves Through The Window

10-9-2017 Magic Moment:

I wake up slowly for the fourth time this morning, there is muted sunlight coming through the window, and I can hear a wispy wind blowing leaves around outside. I look over a see three cats balanced on the shelf in front of the window. They are jockeying for position, for the best view. What has their attention? I sit up to see if there is a critter wandering around in the leaves under the window out of my sight. Nothing… I crawl closer and look out over their swishing tails and wiggling rumps. Still nothing… I stand up, lean over their taught bodies, coiled like springs ready to pounce, press my forehead to the window glass to see down as close to the house as I can. Still nothing… No creature scurrying, no critter scampering, no varmint scuttling in the leaves. Confused, I try to follow their gaze as they vibrate with excitement, whiskers twitching. Slowly, as a leaf whizzes past and all three cats heads swivel to track its path through the air and they all erupt into an exasperated chattering clicking noise they make sometimes, I realize they are chasing the leaves. How comical!

Peak Fall Colors

10-8-2017 Magic Moment:

Another brilliant fantastic Autumn day. Driving back from town, through the Catskill Mountains, Fall is in full swing. Every color imaginable from crushed brown to flaming orange, every hue from palest pink through dark purple to incandescent red, every hue from soft yellow green to richest glowing gold. The mountain sides are bursting with color, dazzling, dizzying, blazing color, gleaming in the lustrous sunlight. This is Autumn at its peak!

Sunset With Fall Colors

10-7-2017 Magic Moment:

Sitting on the porch, observing the setting sun, enjoying the warm evening. The sky is alight with glowing pale peach and baby blue, filling the air with a blushing coppery light. The trees are covered with autumn leaves, all the hues of red, orange, gold and brown. As I sit here absorbing all the vibrant colors of the sunset sky and the sunset leaves, I feel as if I’m floating in a brilliant world of luminous transparent air dye. I am freely swimming in the vivacious tints and hues of Autumn!

Fall Walk With My Love

10-6-2017 Magic Moment:

Amazing, bright, colorful day; golden sunshine, brilliant red and orange leaves, glowing yellow and coral leaves, whispering on the trees and tumbling along the ground. My husband and I took a walk up the hollow to enjoy the Indian summer day. I pick up flashy leaves that catch my eye, twirl them between my fingers to watch the vivid colors swirl. We meander up the road, arm in arm, wistful smiles, content in each others company. At the bridge, I let all my collected leaves go, studying them as they fall, twisting, colors flashing in the sunlight, gliding to soft landings on the moving water. Tiny boats floating quickly into the riffles, sinking below the surface as they tumble in the current and continue downstream. We stroll up the hill on the dirt road, listening to birds, conversing about nothing in particular, a pleasurable walk on a lovely day, through the calming forest, with my one and only.

Little Brown Bat

10-5-2017 Magic Moment:

Our house is hand made. Literally; it started out as a small seasonal hunting cabin. There are no level surfaces, square angles, or standard sizes, but it’s ours and we love it! The porch roof is held up with rough cut boards cobbled together to make roof beams, hence there are many holes and gaps in them. Not so great when wasps try to nest in the crevices, but really awesome when the Little Brown Bats shelter there in the summer.

For many years we had several of them show up when the weather got continuously warm and then leave when things cooled off again in the fall. I would look up into their dark safe hiding place and see them all huddled together, upside down, their small heads little brown spheres visible nestled in the brownness of their little bodies. Then, at the height of the white nose syndrome in this area, our summering porch bats dwindled, eventually down to none. We might get an occasional single bat stay a day or two, and I was somewhat disheartened to think our bats were gone.

This year we did have one Little Brown Bat who showed up around the end of July and stayed. I remember walking out onto the porch and seeing its little pile of scat, looking up into the dark protected cavity, and being overjoyed to see a small sleeping bat. Today, I was sweeping the porch and found some left over guano. Looking up into the crevice, I found it sleeping peacefully upside down in the crack between the boards. Smiles! Very surprising, as it has been cold at night, although days are still mostly warm and there are insects still flying around. I figure this will be my last sighting of the season. I don’t know where they hibernate around here, but it isn’t this porch. Have a good winter my strong little bats, see you next year.

Night Falling

10-4-2017 Magic Moment:

I have been sitting on the porch all evening, alternately listening to a book on my kindle, knitting, bird watching, reading old science magazines, daydreaming, or just gazing out over the road noticing how the trees are loosing their red and gold leaves and the hillside across the way is becoming more visible each day. The sun has set, daylight is fading quietly, darkness is slowly creeping down the hill around the house, silently seeping into the sir and sky. They twilight is cool and stills as the birds and chipmunks retire to their nests. The trees become dark silhouettes against the purpling sky, the first brightest stars appear as weak glimmers, gaining in brightness as the sky coalesces into darkness. The porch has drifted into dark shadow, soft caress of approaching night against my skin. A bird calls out, a single loud piercing short cry splits the silence for just a moment. It leaves its perch and flies into the darkness. I do not want to go inside. I would like to stay here and become this soft smooth night, be the blanket of calmness that brings slumber and dreams, swirl and twirl dancing with twinkling starlight, bathe in the moonlight, loving life and living in my misty dreams of infinite universe.

Sleeping With Cats

10-3-2017 Magic Moment:

I often wake several times a night for whatever reason. Often, just to consciously roll over and go back to sleep. Sometimes doing that is difficult without launching several cats in all directions. Old man Max cat sleeps on my husband’s pillow above (on) his head, or curled up in my husband’s shoulder. Tiger cat stretches out across the bottom of the bed at our feet, using our ankles as pillows. The lady cats wait until we are sleeping, then climb in unnoticed to curl or stretch between or on our bodies. When I awake in the night, I can feel their comforting weight and warmth, hear their quiet rhythmic breathing. They are loving trusting souls, creature that bring joy and life into our home and hearts. In the darkness, I carefully sit up, trying not to disturb the sleeping bundles of fuzzy cuteness all around me. Before getting up to trundle down the hall, I gently rub, by turns, the silky fur of each sleeping form. In response, they erupt into gratified purring, and simultaneously stretch, curl tighter, and wiggle twirl to expose more belly for attention, all while while pretending to still be asleep. This is pure love in action.

Migrating Monarchs

10-2-2017 Magic Moment:

Dozing on the hammock again, soaking up the warm afternoon sunshine. I have been spending as much time as I can outside enjoying this warm Indian summer because I know it will not last. I bask in the heat of the day, making this sunshine memory to keep close when winter’s fury is scouring the mountains later. Open my eyes and soar into that vast expanse of sapphire sky, golden sun light bathing the landscape in gilded glory. I rock myself, watching the treetops swing back and forth, when a butterfly flits into my field of vision. Orange and black, flittering up, flitting down, headed in southerly direction. I follow its path with my eyes until it is out of sight. There are a few flowers left still growing, but it was not interested. A few minutes later another butterfly flutters by high overhead. Curious… Then come several more, flying in butterfly fashion, heading south. As I lay there, over the next half hour or so, many butterflies float by, singly or a few at a time, their delicate wings pumping furiously, carrying them to unknown places. Although I never got a close up look at any of them (why terrorize a helpless butterfly on a mission) I hypothesize they might be migrating Monarchs. If that is the case, this is the first time I have seen this phenomena! Amazing!

Fairy Bugs In A Sunbeam

10-1-2017

Another glorious Indian Summer fall day, warm yellow sunshine illuminating the changing leaves, warm gentle breeze sends golden leaves flitting toward earth. I am sitting in a rocking chair on the porch knitting, experiencing the sleepy contented tranquility of the afternoon. The spinning planet has the sun low enough in the sky to peek under the porch roof, sparkling in my eyes like paradise. Through the glare, as if from a dream, I slowly notice tiny shining bright sparks floating around the yard. They seem suspended, drifting lazily around with no particular purpose. At first, I think it’s some sort of airborne seed, like a dandelion. After watching them waft along for a few minutes, realization dawns that these are living creatures with wings, flying around in the late afternoon sunbeams, sunshine glinting off their fuzzy bodies making them shimmer, dazzling my eyes with fanciful ideas of fairies. Of course, they are some unidentified insect, but just for a moment, my daydreaming mind could almost believe!

First Pine Cones

9-30-2017

We have a spruce tree out by the garden, that we planted it almost 20 years ago. It started out as a living Christmas tree. I like having the fresh trees in the house for the holiday, but loathe killing a tree just for decoration. We even used potted flowing plants at our wedding instead of killing flowers for floral arrangements. (Yes, go ahead and call me kooky)

Back then, when the baby tree came inside for Christmas, it sat proudly on the table in the front window, beautiful and evergreen. However, it liked being in the warm, bright house and sprouted its spring growth before the decorations came off. So, it had to stay on the table until the outdoor trees did the same thing much later in the actual spring time.

The next year, we got another living tree, and tried again. We only kept it inside for a short time and planted it before it sprouted, but it died. So we decided not to do any more living trees, they are expensive, and we do not have space to grow trees inside the house. So my husband bought a small tree; fabulously tacky metallic silver with color changing fiber optic lights. If you are going fake, it might as well be as fake as fake can be. No decorations needed and the light show is wonderful!

Now, that first tree, from our first Christmas together, is maybe 30 feet tall, robust, growing happily out by the garden. This year it produced open pine cones for the first time! This tree has grown from a small seedling into a full grown reproducing tree. We had the pleasure of watching the whole process, seeing the growing changes from year to year. Mother Nature at her finest!