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The Morning Porch

Daily short takes from an Appalachian hollow

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Month: September 2022

September 30, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Overcast and cold. A furious back-and-forth of chainsaws from the powerline, where a crew works to refresh the century-old clearcut.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags powerline
September 29, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Breezy, cold and clear. Perfect weather for my favorite autumn sport, watching leaves fall: those that tumble, those that plummet, those that twirl.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags fall foliage, wind 3 Comments
September 28, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Overcast, windy and cold at dawn. Soft thuds as the black walnut tree releases its ordnance onto the road.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags black walnut, clouds, cold, wind
September 27, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Rising late to find the sun already in the trees and the air redolent of autumn. Silhouettes of birds pass as quietly as thoughts through the canopy.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags fall foliage
September 26, 2022 by Dave Bonta

In the half-dark of dawn, something runs across the porch toward my feet—I scream and jump. The rabbit too appears to be discombobulated.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags cottontail, dawn
September 25, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Showers give way to tentative sunlight by late morning. It’s quiet. A lone blue jay calls.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags blue jays, rain
September 24, 2022 by Dave Bonta

A couple of cold nights and the yellow has spread like a contagion through the birches. A squirrel hangs down among the green walnuts.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags black birch, black walnut, fall foliage, gray squirrel
September 23, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Windy and cold (40F/5C). A sudden outpouring of Canada goose music. The sun comes out from behind the only cloud.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags Canada geese, clouds, cold
September 22, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Lightning flickers on the horizon at dawn. The dull glow of the crescent moon’s darkened bulk reminds me that the earth also shines.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags dawn, lightning, moon 1 Comment
September 21, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Dawn comes with an inversion layer, traffic noise half-smothering the scattered notes of thrushes fresh from their night flights.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags dawn, I-99, wood thrush
September 20, 2022 by Dave Bonta

A clear dawn sky, with the crescent moon like Orion’s boomerang just missing Castor and Pollux. The widely scattered chirps of migrating birds.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags dawn, stars
September 19, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Dawn. The last katydid falls silent. The fourth-quarter moon, curled up like a dried fish, disappears into a cloud.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags clouds, dawn, katydids, moon
September 17, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Thin fog at sunrise. A pileated woodpecker lands on the side of a tall locust tree and gets bum-rushed by a squirrel.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags black locust, fog, gray squirrel, pileated woodpecker, sunrise
September 16, 2022 by Dave Bonta

Cold (46F) with thin, high clouds. Black walnuts knocking on the roof. A red-tailed hawk drops in to visit the squirrels.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags black walnut, clouds, cold, red-tailed hawk
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On This Day

  • December 7, 2024
    For twenty minutes after sunrise, my front yard seethes with juncos, all flutter and twitter as they glean seeds from old weeds. I go down…
  • December 7, 2023
    A dusting of snow—not even enough to bury the moss. Three gray squirrels in a high-speed chase circle the bole of an oak, claws on…
  • December 7, 2022
    Thin fog/low clouds. It feels as if rain could start at any moment but does not. A Carolina wren nearly drowns out the sound of…
  • December 7, 2021
    Cold, overcast, and nearly still: my clouds of breath drift sideways, leading my eye to a half-shell of black walnut, its empty brain case.
  • December 7, 2020
    Cold with no wind; the few, small snowflakes float almost straight down. In the almost sunshine, a lone crow is trying to stir things up.

See all...

Related book

Cover of Ice Mountain with a linocut of a big ridgetop tree.

What I do after I sit on the porch. One winter and spring's daily walks distilled into short poems with linocut illustrations by Beth Adams.

Header image: detail from Paper Garden by Clive Hicks-Jenkins (used by permission)

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