In the dim light, the sound of eight bone knives being whetted against a sapling. The buck straightens up and gives me a baleful look.
October 2013
Wednesday October 30, 2013
Juncos forage in the meadow, softly twittering. The dull booms of distant gunshots like great lead spikes being driven into the earth.
Tuesday October 29, 2013
The tulip poplar’s green and gold leaves look almost as they did at first emergence back in May. But their whispering is so much louder now.
Monday October 28, 2013
At the base of the hill, the meadow is white with frost. A small deer carries the white torch of its tail up into the sunlit woods.
Sunday October 27, 2013
Fourth-quarter moon in the branches of the black walnut, facing back toward the east and the first stain of dawn.
Saturday October 26, 2013
Cold and clear. Half the trees on the ridge are bare now, leaving narrow, blue windows all along the crest for the sun to pour through.
Friday October 25, 2013
Cold, gray, and windy. Old webworm tents freighted with caterpillar corpses flap in the otherwise bare branches of the walnut trees.
Thursday October 24, 2013
First snow of the year: a squall of small flakes. The flamingo in the garden rapidly acquires a white shawl.
Wednesday October 23, 2013
Cold rain. Three sparrows forage in the weeds next to a barberry bush, its green branches harboring masses of blood-red berries.
Tuesday October 22, 2013
Cloudy and brisk; the woods are full of falling leaves. A sharp-shinned hawk flaps and glides just above the treetops, heading south.