Samhain : All Hallows

Hello Darkness my old friend....

Leaves changing and falling and raked into piles for jumping and throwing. First frost and pumpkin carving. A shark attack and a mama moth...

This Shining Moment: Mancub and Mantis

when I am every day all day all body and no mind, when I am
physically, wholly and completely, in this world with the birds,
the deer, the sky, the wind, the trees…

- David Budbill
(This Shining Moment in the Now)

Summer rushed by so quickly and suddenly I find myself washing off the porch and all the summer toys to put them in the basement for winter storage.

"but not the nets and observations tanks", he says.

I did not think that the erratic fluctuations in temperature would bring us anymore critter visitations.  I was wrong.

Unreluctant Soul: 53 rides around the sun

LIFE by Henry van Dyke (excerpt from The Three Best Things)

Let me but live my life from year to year,
With forward face and unreluctant soul;
Not hurrying to, nor turning from, the goal;
Not mourning for the things that disappear
In the dim past, nor holding back in fear
From what the future veils; but with a whole
And happy heart, that pays its toll
To Youth and Age, and travels on with cheer.

Apple Pickin' 2016: A Necessary Autumn

"Oh give us pleasure in the orchard..." - Robert Frost

A beautiful afternoon for our annual orchard picnic with beloved friends.

Crumbs of Shadow : Mushroom Identification Class

We shall by morning
Inherit the earth.
Our foot's in the door. - Sylvia Plath

1. Sparassis: Cauliflower Mushroom; 2. Armillaria mellea: Honey Mushrrom; 3. Laetiporus: Chicken of the Woods; 4. Pleurotus: Oyster Mushroom

Virginia Outdoors Festival: Kids Fishing Derby

"Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own..." - Wordsworth

We spent the day at the enchanted Banshee Reeks for the Virginia Outdoors Festival.  It was raining, but that didn't stop the mancub from entering the Kids Fishing Derby (catch & release).  He won a tackle box for having caught the largest bass and the most fish overall.

Wherefore O' Summer's Day : Autumn in the Garden

The bee is not afraid of me,
I know the butterfly..."  - Emily Dickinson

This migrating fellow ( Monarch Edward ) stayed with us for quite a spell while we watered our veggie patch. 

Silent and Felt: Great Horned Owl Release

"Coming down out of the freezing sky
with its depths of light,
like an angel, or a Buddha with wings..."
- Mary Oliver

He was found in a brush pile, a nestling fallen from his home.  No owl families were located nearby to raise him.  He was rehabilitated by a rescuer and we attended his glorious release.  With a thrust of his great, silent wings he rose and flew off into the sunset.

Family Art Night

Family Art Night. Shih Chieh Huang #greaterrestonartcenter