Category: Fawn Hill

Image #143 – One week later

Image #143

That’s Tango, posing nicely by a pretty autumnal sugar maple in nearby West Macon Track. This was one week ago and I have no doubt the leaves have all disappeared. It’s happening a lot these days. A cold front moved through on Thursday night with high winds and about .5 inches of rain. But the cold air got hung up on the west side of the mountains and this delightful, almost hallucinogenic, warm air slipped in between the cold air and the rain making Friday a spectacular day.  Indian Summer… Leaves were everywhere, on the ground, in great quantities.  Tree limbs were black and naked, reaching towards a cobalt blue sky. The scents were earthy and the air was soft.

These are days we’ll remember (apologies to Natalie Merchant). Not just for the sunshine and falling leaves but for the extraordinary miracles of life and death that once again grace our life. On the hilltop above my home is the dying form of my friend Gail…life partner of a life-long friend, Boni. Just three weeks ago, after a summer of decline, Gail was diagnosed with terminal cancer. A return engagement of lung cancer that tried to take her life eight years ago. Conquered then, the demon is back and this time it will succeed.

But success is not necessarily triumph. It is Gail’s spirit that is triumphant. Death will take her…but it will take us all. It is not the taking but rather HOW we are taken. Gail’s smiles, her peace, her continuing sense of humor, her love for Boni and her many friends, … her grace.  This is the triumph. ❧

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Image #142 – Intricacies

Image #142

In Western North Carolina the leaves are peaking, in many areas they are already past. I have visited this region several times during autumn and, without doubt, the colors are stunning. But now I live here and the eye, like a microscope, always rachets down one or two stops, looking for the intricacies, wanting to know more about the total picture.  So today, a truly glorious day in WNC, I set out from my front door and quickly found the impetus of these thoughts.  It is everywhere around me–the intricacies of life, the turning of the seasons. This maple leaf tells the tale–red, green, brown; cobwebs, mimicking the fabric of space, and insect-produced black holes, portending a deeper being; the red portion looking like a Google map of a subdivision, any subdivision; the brown giving promise to its ultimate future.  “Everything is on its way to somewhere else,” George Malley.  ❧

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Image #141 – Juvenile American Gold Finch

Image #141

The babies have fledged and are on their own. This is a Juvenile American Gold Finch.  Quite possibly he is the progeny of this fellow (below).

Image 141 (1)

On Fawn Hill life is moving on …  ❧

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Image #140 – Tufted titmouse

Image #140

These guys are such frequent flyers at my birdfeeders. My Audubon Field Guide states the titmouse “are social birds and, especially in winter, join with small mixed flocks of chickadees, nuthatchers, kinglets, creeper, and the smaller woodpeckers.”  Well, spot on Audubon! ! That perfectly describes my feeders just now. Mix in purple finches and cardinals and you have the Fawn Hill bird mix of the moment.  I’ve been told that juncos will arrive  but I remember in Washington, D.C. that the juncos arrived only when it was truly cold to the north. Perhaps the same is true here. ☙

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Image #122 – Wooly caterpillar in autumn sun

Image # 122

Sorry, I can’t recall the name of this fellow. I do recall he bites and it can be painful. We, my friend Boni and I, found him on a leaf in the pen where Buddy lives.  He was remarkably fast and I was lucky to get a half-way decent shot of him.   ☙

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Image #121 – Little Helmets …last of the series

Image #121

The past two blogs, #119 and #120, have been Little Helmets mushrooms from my neighbor’s yard.  They are just so dear that I can’t help but share another. They were here and gone in the blink of an eye. I was happy to get them is such different phases. Hope you enjoy. ☙

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Image #120 – Little Helmets being born …

Image #120

Yesterday’s post, Little Helmets, showed the mature mushroom. Here you can see them being born, the “petals” unfolding in the afternoon sun. ☙

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Image #119 – Little Helmets

Image #119

Another aptly named mushroom.  These are Little Helmets.  Dozens of them poked their heads through the moss on Sunday, September 29th.  By yesterday, October 2nd, there was nary a trace of them.  But they are sweet. I was able to get several good shots and will post one or two more.  To give you an idea of how little the Little Helmets are, here is a second image showing my setup of the shot. The Little Helmets are the white spots in front of the camera, about 2-3 cm in height. ☙

Image #119(a)

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Image #118 – Seasonal Bounty

Image #118

Mushrooms are making a comeback after a 3-4 week hiatus.  New blooms are popping up everywhere. This aptly named Jack O’Lantern mushroom is quite spectacular and very seasonal. ☙

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Image #111 – Violet-branched coral mushroom

Image #110

The blades of grass and mossy ground cover give you a sense of scale for this beautiful mushroom.  It has been a wonderful season for mushrooms. New ones continue to emerge even as the days grow shorter and the nights cooler.  What other treasures does North Carolina hold as the seasons change? ☙

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