Taking Time for Autumn

   Being down here on the Bayou by myself most of the time, I sort of lose track of time.  There is no need for it.  This sounds strange for someone who collects and repairs antique clocks.  "There is no need for keeping track of time."  But...here I am.  I pretty much live by the "feel" of things.  Most days are centered around the weather not time.  I plant when the weather is right.  I work when the weather is right.  I fish when the weather is right.  There are days when I cannot tell you the time, the day of of the week or even what day of the month it is.  There is no "rat-race" when the rats are doing their thing and I am doing mine.  I go for months without ever leaving the place. 

  That said, I do pretty much keep track of seasons!  Those are hard not to recognize when they flip.  Today, it occurred to me that autumn must be near.  As I was working the Small Gardens for my fall planting, a sure sign of the seasonal change was evident.  Next to the gate of the vegetable garden, two stalks of blooms wafted gently on the breeze.  One was the chives that now dot the hillside in wild abandon and the other was a nerine lily.  Usually, hundreds of these blooms (both) can be spotted around the place but with the severe drought that has befallen us, these are the only two to be found.  Both of these are spindly due to that lack of rain.  It saddens me but, at the same time, gives me hope.  If it is autumn, perhaps we shall began to see some rain coming our way. and the summer heat will be pushed away for a few months.  I am ready for that change and thankful that the plants are doing their best to remind me that it is "time" for the seaonal change.

It is Autumn Enough!

   It seems that autumn can never come soon enough for my taste.  Let the calendar roll around to May and I am wanting to decorate for fall and Halloween.  Most of those decorations can easily spill over to Thanksgiving so why not get an early start?  If it would not be for Son reminding me that we have spring and summer, I would just as soon jump right into fall after winter.  Who needs the other seasons?  Well, I guess we all do but still....

  Not feeling the best today, I decided that a bit of orange would be the perfect remedy and I knew the ideal place to start sneaking  decorations into place!  There is this funny little wall niche in the bathroom.  It is actually a place where a tiny window was removed years ago.  Instead of trying to "cover over" the void, I decided to put it to good use.  It is pointless to view it as an eyesore.  It is better to simply draw attention to the spot!  I usually hang a wreath in the niche year round but change up during the holidays.  I had a "vision" for the niche for autumn.  

  A wall sconce vase was created from a split gourd.  To this a few dried and artificial leaves were added and a bit of Spanish moss was tucked beneath.  An old lantern was the finishing touch.  Voila!  My first autumn decorations were in place.  Since the bathroom has black trim, orange and black towels, pumpkin and black cat soap dispensers were an easy choice to round out the decorations.  One room down and the rest of the house to go...but I am inspired!  Let Autumn begin!  I feel better already.

Wishing....wishing

   This far south, we do not get the beautiful fall foliage show that occurs in the more northern states.  We have to be happy with an occasional orange or red leaf that may slowly drift from the gum trees or popcorn trees.  Sometimes, the maples will put on a show if the weather is reasonable but the drought has browned the leaves before any color change has happened.  So...we take what we get.   Here I am just wishing for some autumn-like show but, instead, I am crunching dried leaves.  

  My hike this morning did bring a smile as I found two...yes, TWO...signs of fall!  First, as I made my way around back behind the greenhouse and grape arbors, I was tickled to find a couple of wild persimmons still hanging on the tree.  The little gold blobs are not ripe and would cause me to pucker up something fierce, if I tried to eat one.  The drought caused huge droppage of the fruit early on and the possums will most likely get the few that hang on the limbs before the first frost makes them sweet.  Still, I saw them and that brought a flood of happy memories.  On the old farm place, there was a few wild persimmon trees in the woods between the house and fields.  I can recall always trying to snitch a snack even though I was warned of the puckering and drying effect that I would surely experience.  The high content of tannins in the unripe fruit make them...ummm...rather unpalatable.  Still...autumn!  Wee bits of autumn dangled from the limbs of the persimmon trees!

  Then, as I meandered near the old canebrake, a second color blast brought vibes of fall and more memories.  A beautyberry shrub had the bright purplish berries starting to ripen.  Though, sparse due to the weather, a few stalks had the nice, rounded clumps on the branches.  These things always mesmerized me as a kid because what kid does not like purple (of any kind) and I loved watching the chickens hop up and down as they stripped the branches of the small berries.  To a kid, seeing a chicken hop is an amusing thing.  Seeing hundreds of chickens hop is downright comical. (Yes, Pop had hundreds of chickens when I was a kid.)  The beautyberry sighting brought a fit of giggles as I thought of those goofy chickens bouncing around the woods.

  So, fall is here, I guess.  I found my two bits of evidence that the summer is waning and perhaps cooler weather is in the works.  I sure hope so.  

Is Autumn Near?

  Well, summer must be waning and autumn nearing simply because I found two things early this morning.  As I stepped out the front door, the chive blooms were the first things to greet me...then, the second was the Ailanthus Webworm Moths!  To me, these two things surely mean fall is on its way....and that cannot come soon enough.  I am ready for the heat to leave and let us get on to cooler days.

  Garlic chives are some of my favorite plants to have in the gardens simply because they grow year round.  These have a more garlicky taste than the regular or onion chives but it is not so strong as regular garlic.  The mildness is just enough to add flavor without being overpowering.  It seems that the moths love them just as much as I do and are doing a fine job of pollinating the blossoms.  If I had my way, the entire yard would be planted in chives!  Two good points about this idea...one, we would never run out of the garlicky goodness and...two, I would never have to cut grass again!  Win/win situation!

  The Ailanthus Webworm moth is not a natural "citizen" of our area but, since it has arrived,  it has decided to stay put.  While a lot of folks are ok with the critter in its moth form, they become quite disgusted at the webs that house the caterpillars.  Seeing the web (which sort of resembles a scraggly spider web) hanging in a tree brings immediate action to "eradicate that unsightly thing"!  Me?  Meh...if you want the beauty of moths and butterflies, you have to embrace the caterpillars.  

  My sighting of the garlic chives and the orange moths gave me hope that autumn is in the air!  Bring on the pumpkins...the red leaves...the plaid, flannel shirts!  Oh...I did make cinnamon rolls today just to herald in my "early wishes of autumn"!

  

One Day...Four Seasons

   Sometimes, Mother Nature just cannot make up her mind.  She, like so many of us, can be described as downright fickle!  Frosty one day, hot the next seems to be the norm now.  I am ok with that but, my goodness, Mother Nature, don't go smacking the seasons totally together!  That just gets far too confusing for everyone!

  Early this morning, I wandered through the gardens only to wind up behind the greenhouses.  Being as this area is sheltered from the north wind, I had left the potted lemon trees on the little back deck with good intentions of finally getting them transplanted in the ground.  Since the other citrus trees fare well during our winters, I figured there was not much use in lugging the huge pots into the greenhouse.  The trees did well and I was fully surprised to see new growth and large buds on the branches!  Whoa!  Hold on, Lemon Trees!  It is not spring yet!  The trees begged to differ, however.  As I looked, I began to notice more and more buds on all four lemon trees.  Well, if a late freeze does come, I suppose I shall be hauling the trees into the greenhouse after all just to try to save the blooms.  Mother Nature!  You sure are pushing it!  I shook my head in disbelief.

  Turning back toward the garden, a flash of red caught my eye.  Oh, my!  Just a few steps before, it was spring!  Now, it is fall!  Yep, one of the Sweetgum trees was in its glory with red leaves!  The bright red leaves brought some much needed color to the yard but that poor tree must totally be confused!  The small tree stuck out like a sore thumb among all the drab of winter.  

 Huh?  Wait!  It IS supposed to be winter!  Fall was several months ago!  Come on, Mother Nature!  Really?  Spring and fall right in the middle of winter?  My thoughts were jumbled.  I was trying to wrap my head around what was happening here as I slapped a mosquito that was buzzing around my ear.  Mosquito???  Oh, no....summer, too?  Mother Nature!  This is too much!  Stop it!  *Just as an added note...our temperatures reached nigh on 80 degrees this afternoon but are supposed to plummet into the 30s tonight.  Crazy!

That is nutty!

   If acorns were pennies, I am sure that I would be a millionaire by now.  They are not so, instead, I am just the owner of billions of the nuts.  It appears that every oak tree on the hill decided to bear nuts this year and bear LOTS of them. They are everywhere!  

  Back about a month ago, nighttime was perhaps the noisiest it has ever been.  Several oak trees near the house have huge limbs that hang over the rooftop.  As soon as darkness fell, the coons made their way to the oak trees and started munching the acorns.  It seems that they dropped more than they ate.  Acorns pelted the roof all night long.  It sounded as if we were in the midst of nightly hailstorms.  The clatter would last until sunrise then suddenly stop.  Sleeping was not easy, to say the least.

  Now, acorns are strewn about the entire yard and the squirrels are having a heyday.  Dozens of the critters can be seen fattening themselves for the coming winter months.  I have no problem with the squirrels for a couple of reasons.  First, they are out during the daytime hours and are not pelting the rooftop with nuts.  Second, they are cleaning up a mess that makes it difficult to walk anywhere in the yard.  There are so many acorns that I have to be careful not to slip and slide down the hillside.  Try to imagine walking on a floor covered with marbles and you will understand my predicament.  Thanks to the squirrels, things should be better in a few weeks...hopefully...hopefully, they will not get bellyaches and quit eating the nuts!

Looking for something happy

   Usually by November we have at least some semblance of fall color going on around the Bayou.  Being this far south, our leaf colors pale in comparison of our northern states.  We are lucky to get a few maples and maybe the black gums changing before the leaves drop.  This year with Hurricane Zeta, most of those pretty leaves were ripped from the trees before they changed into their full glorious hues.  So we have to be happy with what we get...popcorn trees.  Those invasive tallow trees are the only thing even trying to brighten the woods line on the horizon.  Right now, I even miss the tallow tree near the pier.  Zeta took that one so there are no pretty red leaves in the yard other than the small, seedling camphor tree.

  It is funny how sometimes you notice things when they are not there instead of when they are.  Across the Bayou, I now realize that the red maples have gone missing.  Due to the distance, I cannot tell if Zeta just took the leaves or if the entire trees have fallen.  Such is the chaos after a storm.  Things seem different.  I seem different.  I am different.  I am tired.  Just tired.

Pumpkin Carving Time!

   I am probably the only person who looks at pumpkins as foodstuffs instead of decorations this time of year.  Mark came home with a huge pumpkin because the store had them and he was shopping.  If it is there...he buys it...whatever its is.  So, I got a pumpkin.  That is all fine and dandy except it is a wee bit early in the season and, well, this pumpkin was obviously in cold storage.  As soon as he brought it in the house, the thing started sweating.  Umm, a sweating pumpkin is not a good thing...at all.  When this happens, it means that the pumpkin will be rotted within the week.  There was nothing to do except salvage my prize!  Let the pumpkin carving begin!

  Son has an odd way of cutting the pumpkins for me to cook.  Without cutting the top or bottom, he makes about a dozen slices on the sides.  Then the top is cut out and each slice is merely plucked from the pumpkin.  Most of the seeds stay inside and he claims that it is easier.  Who am I to argue the point if he is doing the cutting?  Once Son pulled off a few of the slices, he was amused to find a plant growing inside of the pumpkin.  In fact, several of the seeds had sprouted!  This was yet another sign that our fine, fat friend would have withered before Halloween. 

  Now, the pumpkin is cut, cooked, pureed and stored in the freezer.  Two gallons of pumpkin puree is ready to be used in baking or cooking of some sort.  Mark has strict instructions to buy me another pumpkin from a roadside stand around mid October!  No more grocery store pumpkins that have been in cold storage!  It worked out alright, though, as now I have lots of yummy things to make!

Orangeness!

   So, the color of today is orange!  Why?  Well, simple.  I am in an orange mood.  This mood was brought on by a butterfly and a flower.  An orange and black Gulf Fritillary Butterfly was sipping nectar from an orange zinnia.  If that does not get you into the orange mood, then nothing will!  Orange!  Orange and black...the colors of the butterfly...also, the colors of Halloween!  I love Halloween! So, I am in an orange mood AND I am decorating for Halloween!  Yep, it is early but I say do what makes you happy.  Halloween makes me happy so I am doing what I please.  Besides, the critters of the Bayou do not care if the Little Bayou House is decorated for Halloween in the middle of September!

  It seems to me that orange is definitely the color of fall.  Orange leaves, pumpkins, Halloween, flowers, persimmons, the Harvest moon, sunrises, sunsets...all things orange seem to be found in the fall!  (Yes, I do realize that the sun rises and sets year round but it definitely splashes the sky with color more starting in the fall and running through winter.)  With all this orangeness going on, you would think it is my favorite color.  Well, it is one.  The other is black..the lack of color.  Put those two together and, wham!  Halloween!  Favorite!

Fall Spiders!

  Fall has just got to be right around the corner if for no other reason than I am ready.  Down here in the Deep South, we don't "get" fall like everyone else so we "make" fall.  Wishful thinking can do amazing things!  As soon as August ends and September rolls in, we immediately "fall" everything! Decorations are put up, spices are hauled out and, oh my, the leaves start to change colors!  No, wait.  That is not here.  We have leaf color only it is green.  That green usually hangs around until about January but our wishful thinking doesn't mind.  It is fall.

  Today, I found another giant orb weaver spider.  A huge, palm-sized beauty had strung her web between the groundsel bush and a pier post.  This was yet another black and yellow garden spider like the shed door guardian.  I love these gigantic spiders simply because, while they appear intimidating, they are rather docile.  I also love them because they are harbingers of fall!  Yep, Pop always said that finding these spiders and the huge webs meant that fall was right around the corner.  Pop was smart with the ways of nature so I am grasping to his bit of wisdom here.  My spiders herald fall.

  As I was sitting admiring the beauty of the latest spider find, I pondered if Pop was on to something. The best thing I could do was look up about the critters.  Sure enough, it seems that the spiders stay hidden until they are ready to mate and lay eggs.  The female spins her large web and waits for a suitable husband to wander by.  After his visit, she usually eats him for dinner and the proceeds with weaving a lovely cocoon for her eggs.  This golden orb will house her babies until the next spring.  Fall is the egg-laying time for the orb weaver spiders.  Ahh, good to know!

  So, Pop was right once again.  The "Fall" spiders are coming into view so all is right with the world.  Those of us that have been fall ready for the past few months are happy to know that "our" time is nigh!  Happy Fall, y'all!  Let me go check for fall colors...yep!  The Fall Spiders are here with all of their beautiful hues!

Yaupon Berries and Memories

  While most of the country is enjoying the seasonal change with cooler weather and lots of fall foliage, here, we are just happy with the occasional northerly breeze.  That surely means fall is in the air!  In the Deep South, it is rare to get much of a colorful foliage change.  Things stay green.  The weather does not play well and our leaf change usually occurs during winter if at all.  That does not mean we do not have some bits here and there but rather that we have to search for it.  

  This afternoon, the old dog and I took a leisurely stroll about the hillside.  His walking goes along at a snail's pace so it gives me plenty of time to look at things.  Once I find something interesting, Mr. PJ is just as happy to sit for a spell as I photograph it.  This afternoon's find was the bright red berries of the yaupon.  These medium sized shrubs dot the marsh, woods and even the yard as I let them grow where they may.  I am not meticulous about how organized the yard is, so if something chooses to sprout up and it is pretty, it stays.  Simple as that.  I do think the yaupons are pretty.  This time of year, the berries turn bright red.  They stay this way until midwinter when the cedar waxwings come flying in to search for food.  Then the small trees are stripped of every berry.  This gives the migrating birds some much needed nutrition but takes away from my yard decorations!  My sights then turn from admiring the berries to admiring the birds that have come to feed.  

  Seeing the yaupon berries, this afternoon, brought a childhood memory to mind. Back in the day, Pop used to cut many branches of the yaupon berries to use for decorations.  Mom would put the long stalks in two large buckets filled with water.  These would flank the doorway on the screened porch.  Other branches would adorn the mantles for Thanksgiving and carry over into the Christmas season.  Occasionally, the berries would start to drop so Pop would simply cut more.  We used the yaupon berries far more often than holly.  The holly was saved to fill the bronze vases out at the cemetery.  When I was just a tyke, I would go with Pop to honor the folks who had passed so many years before. The grave sites of family members, longtime friends and even some forgotten folks were bedecked with the holly berries and cedar branches each holiday season.  I often wonder if the grave sites have been adorned since Pop passed.  I know I have neglected them...sad to say.  It seems as if that custom, too, has gone the wayside.

Welcome Autumn!

  Autumn...of all the seasons, I do believe this may be a favorite...at least until winter.  Then, Winter...I think winter may be my favorite.  And so on...Perhaps, I need a change and the seasons provide that.  Here lately, however, there has not been that much change in the weather to merit a change in the seasons.  We have rain...daily rains that keep things soggy, smelling a tad musty and making outside slippery.  I do not complain, though, since I do love the rain.  Still, it is time for a change...so Dear Autumn, I am glad you are here.

  With fall comes the annual Clue Hunt on the Bayou.  Usually by this time, the Little Bayou House is adorned in some weird getup that coincides with the hunt.  I am behind schedule and nothing is ready.  There have been too many interruptions for me to complete anything.  The entryway (being the smallest room in the house) has been decorated somewhat.  It was the easier to do since each room of the hunt was to have a different color theme.  The entryway was orange!  Well, hello!!  Orange and Halloween go hand in hand for me so the decorations demanded to be "pre-Halloween"!  Fall decorations that can easily accept the Jack-O-Lanterns that will come in a few weeks!  This afternoon, as I was saying goodbye to my son-in-law after a short visit, a vision of loveliness greeted me.  Earlier, I had placed an old earthenware jug full of fall flowers and twigs on the window ledge.  When I turned to lock the screen door, the arrangement looked especially pretty.  With a backdrop of a rainy sky through the windowpanes, the oranges and browns of the arrangement seemed to literally be glowing.  This splash of color was a far cry from the plant cuttings being rooted in an old canning jar that are usually on this ledge.  The flowers were bright and happy and just screamed fall!  I needed that. Welcome, Autumn.  I am glad you have come to visit.

 

Now, we're talking!

  The old dog had enough energy to walk with me to the back part of the property.  His wobbly legs made this a slow-paced walk but it gave me plenty of time to photograph things along the way.  Near the small pump shed, there is a scraggly (for most of the year) shrub that always brightens my day during this time of year.  The American Beautyberry is one of my favorites!  During the winter months, the stalks sit bare and dry but come spring, it burst forth with bright green leaves.  In the beginning of summer, those stalks start showing some nondescript clusters of tiny flowers.  Being as they are the palest of pinks and well hidden beneath the large leaves, the blooms often go unnoticed.  Later, those tiny blooms drop and the brightest violet berries take their place.  It is those berries that claim all the glory for the shrub!  Also, it is those berries that bring my smiles.

  Although the calendar says that fall has not arrived as of yet, I do believe it is here!  The American Beautyberry says it is so it must be true.  The shrub would not lie!  By all accounts, the shrub's berries ripen in the fall so fall it is.  I am ready!  These berries are an important food source for many of the birds on the Bayou.  Back when I was just a tyke running barefoot on the farm, Pop told me the bush was a "Turkey Berry" bush so the name stuck.  It makes sense.  Turkeys love the berries and Pop would often scout out the heaviest laden shrub.  Then, just about Thanksgiving, he would quietly sit near the bush and wait.  If a turkey happened to come dine upon the berries, we had a grand Thanksgiving dinner!  

  Now, however, the shrubs are left as landscape beauties.  Turkeys can freely dine upon them along with the many other birds.  My happiness lies purely in the fact that summer is coming to an end and fall is on its way....according to the American Beautyberry shrub.  Now, we're talking!  Fall...yes, please!

Golden Mornings

  Ok, so I admit that I am pushing things again.  It never fails that along about mid-July, I start missing fall and all of its beauty.  All thoughts turn to cooler days, early frosts and changing seasons. It is also the time that I start cajoling Son to haul down my fall decorations.  I am tired of not having the Little Bayou House festively decorated.  Thus, begins my "season" of holidays which lasts for about half the year.  This morning, Mother Nature encouraged the idea of a season change.  A slight northerly breeze brought with it a hint of things to come...golden mornings!  Come fall, the sunrises tend to be more magical.  A golden glow envelopes the entire Bayou which, in turn, sends the creative thoughts reeling.  

  While watching the sunrise turn the Bayou into even more of a mystical place, it occurred to me that these golden mornings should be an inspiration.  Each and every sunrise brings with it a new opportunity to start the day with a smile.  It is entirely up to us to keep that smile going throughout the day.  Frustrations can build but they cannot overcome us unless we let them. That said, it seems to me that my smile for the day is the thought of the arrival of fall...even though that is far from happening in reality.  Perhaps giving it a little shove will hasten its arrival! Wishful thinking....

  In the meantime, while we await the elusive season change, one can dream and enjoy these golden mornings.  The Bayou and all of its magic is at work again!

All In Less Than A Week!

  Well, we have had a season change. Several actually! Our summer ended and fall came this week.  Yep, ours is late by others' standards.  We had a hint of fall where a few leaves changed colors.  The old hickory tree was in its glorious golden hues!  It was amazing and as I decorated the Little Bayou House for Christmas, I could look out the window and see FALL...not Winter!  No snowy hillside.  No icicles hanging from the eaves.  No gray skies with flocks of Canadian Geese flying overhead.  Nothing but a hickory tree dressed in her finest gown of gold.  And, by the way, the geese have stopped trying to figure out our weather and just stay here all year round.  We are soon going to have to change their name to something more suitable if this trend keeps occurring.  But fall came to the Bayou.

Mr. PJ is pretty well camouflaged in the hickory leaves!

  Fast forward until this morning....A thick fog rolled in off the Bay and shrouded everything in its wet, white blanket.  The sun tried to peek through but could not make its appearance until well on 8am.  By mid afternoon, summer had returned.  The temperature soared upwards into the 80s and hovered there.  A stiff southeastern wind blew across the hillside and attacked my fog-laden, golden hickory tree.  Every last leaf fell to the ground!  Instead of the gorgeous, gilded gown that she wore the day before, the old hickory now rested her feet on a thick carpet of soggy leaves.

  That fickle weather is not done with us yet!  We are forecasted to have temperatures in the 30s sometime tomorrow night!  So...four days...three seasons...summer, fall and winter!  Not unusual for these parts.  This far south we keep our flipflops sitting next to boots, T-shirts hanging by jackets and we fluctuate between hot cocoa and iced sweet tea.  Oh, well....I have a nice stock of chopped wood for the old cast iron stove so I am set for our "winter".  Sure wish it would last!

My Sweet Halloween Kitty!

  By rights, Halloween cats should be fierce!  They should be scary-looking!  They should howl and hiss and take swipes at anyone who nears them.   They should not be sweet, loving kitties who want to be scratched on the ears and receive belly rubs.  But...my Halloween Kitty is just that.  While Ms. Nycto is not very useful as a mouser, she is adorable and has wormed her way into our hearts since the first day she showed up here on the Bayou.

  Back when she first came up to the doorstep seeking food and shelter, this cat was adamant about this being her home.  I tried to shoo her away.  "Go back home, Cat!" I pleaded.  I did not need another critter to feed!  She walked around the house and came back to the same door.  "Shoo!" I said again!  She walked the same path and came back for the third time.  Well, what could I do but feed her since she was so persistent.  Once the cat was eating, I tried to hold her. Nope...not happening!  She bit me!  Alrighty, then!  I immediately told Son that we were going to keep this cat.  It seems that I have several prerequisites for a cat to become a member of the family.  First, they must be black and second, they must bite me at our first meeting.  (Not really but that is how the first meeting of all the adopted strays has gone in the past.  We have adopted a string of black cats and all decided to take a chunk out of my hand at some point!)  Needless to say, Ms. Nycto became a beloved part of the Bayou Family.

  Since the passing of Ms. Put, the Bayou Queen, Ms. Nycto is slowly filling the reign as monarch. Even though the two cats would tangle occasionally, I think Ms. Nycto misses her rival as Ruler of the Bayou.  She seems to be constantly searching for the old cat.  Never before has she ventured up on the rooftop where Ms. Put spent a good deal of her time.  Nor has she roamed room to room all the while meowing.  She senses that the other cat is not here any longer but she is unsure of her new found royalty status.  

  This morning, I found Ms. Nycto had spent the night on the bench on the small deck.  She had slept by the fall mums under the watchful eyes of two steadfast owls.  Perhaps she knew she was in the perfect spot to be a Halloween Cat or perhaps she just felt safer with her two guardians.  My sweet Halloween Kitty!

I'll Take It!

  Autumn!  Ahhh!  The bliss!  Chilly nights, colored leaves, brisk breezes, sweater nights!  I think this is just about perfect!  Except on the Bayou these things will come a bit later if at all.  While other folks are happily proclaiming that Fall is almost here, I am still going barefooted and sweating in the sweltering heat.  The thought of wearing anything more than a short sleeve shirt brings groans from those of us this far in the Deep South.  We can only wish! Still, Autumn comes tomorrow whether the weather agrees or not.  

  On my short hike in the yard at daybreak (very limited due to the uncooperative leg), I did come across one bright spot that is about as fall-like as we are going to get at the moment.  A single red leaf had fallen from a Black Gum Tree in the front yard.  Time to get out that rake!  The leaf being backlit by the rising sun looked like a bright flame rising from the grass.  Its glowing red enthralled me to the point that I wanted to keep the leaf forever in this state.  That ain't gonna happen, folks.  By late evening, the sun will have turned the leaf to a crispy brown and my little bit of Autumn will have burnt out like a match.  Vanished into thin air!  Gone.  Maybe another tomorrow?

  I have heardtell that you can "preserve" fall leaves by soaking them in glycerin.  Perhaps I should attempt that but then, I may not truly appreciate the "single" red leaves that I find occasionally.  Too much of a good thing can spoil the magic in something found for a moment.  Preserving the leaves will be a good project to do with the grandkids if they are ever here in Fall, maybe, but that will be a long time coming.  Instead, I will take my one little bit of Autumn and be happy in it.  I will take it when I find it.

The "Great Scavenger Hunt"!

  It is getting on to that time of year again when an occasional stiff wind will kick up from the north.  Besides the obvious fact that our air will be a wee bit cooler, the  humidity lessens making it all the more comfortable.  Fall and winter are my favorite seasons for so many reasons but the main one is that I feel better then.  Starting about September and on through March, my health seems to improve!  How can I not like the cold? 

  With that north wind comes lower tides.  A brisk north wind will shove the water out of the Bayou and Bay leaving behind large mudflats along the shoreline.  As the tides recede, interesting things will be uncovered.  Whatever the summer storms pushed into the area will now be exposed. Sometimes, interesting things can be found along the shorelines.  It was this time of year, that my kids used to love to go "scavenging".  I would take the three of them out in a tiny skiff and we would pole along the marsh line in search of "treasure".  To this day, the kids still talk about our close encounter with a large alligator on one of these outings!  That, however, is a tale for another time! While I poled, the kids would peer over the side of the skiff into the shallows.  If something was deemed interesting, they would call out and we would all take a look.  Then, my oldest son usually would reach into the water to retrieve the great find.  I have to admit that occasionally they did indeed find something usable or keep worthy.  Sometimes a fishing rod and reel would be the treasure.  Once a minnow trap complete with "cannibal bull minnows" was the haul.  (Cannibal minnows were labeled thus because the poor things had been trapped for so long that they had taken to eating each other to survive.)  Another time, an antique milk bottle from their great-grandfather's dairy was discovered stuck in the mud. That treasure still sits on the kitchen shelf!  Other times, the find might include some trinket lost by a boater or something the wind blew from a nearby pier. Whatever we retrieved from the shallows would be the "find of the day".  The kids thought this was great fun.  What they did not know was that we were actually cleaning up our part of the Bay.  Along with the treasures, we always hauled in a bucketful or so of trash to be discarded properly. 

  Yesterday's low tide brought to light so many interesting things.  Most were things like driftwood pieces or boards.  If the old skiff was usable, the logs would be hauled out of the mud and onto shore.  These are nothing but snags to catch our line or rip our net. Since the kids are now grown, we do not go on our scavenger hunts.  The cleaning has become just another chore.  I need to find a few neighborhood kids around here to go on "hunts"just to keep things fun!

Preparing for Cooler Weather!

  This morning, we had our first hint of fall.  At sunrise, a slight north wind gave the idea that perhaps the weather would be cooler this week. Any cool front is welcome but this one more than others.  With this cool front making its way to the Coast, all three hurricanes may just be steered in a different direction. Now if we could just get a full blown cold front to blow them all out to sea, things would be nigh on perfect. Besides, I am ready for fall. With fall comes the Annual Clue Hunt on the Bayou and Halloween!

  While pondering the approach of cooler weather, a racket over my head made me peer upwards.  Whack!  A small branch fell from an oak tree and hit my shoulder.  That type of "fall" I do not like! Then I heard a hasty chattering of a squirrel in the top of a nearby tree.  Aha!  The culprit!  The next twenty minutes were spent watching this little squirrel as she built a huge nest.  This, in itself, is a sure sign of fall.  Squirrels all over the hillside are in the nest building mode.  The springtime nests that housed mama and baby squirrels will be abandoned and new ones built.  These new homes will be lined a bit heavier and will seem a bit bulkier than the spring ones.  While a good many squirrels will use hollow trees or abandoned woodpecker holes for wintertime nests, others will stick with their leafy abodes.  Our winters are never too severe so the squirrels will be snug in their leaf nests. 

  The nest starts as a few twigs placed in the crotch or fork of tree branches.  The twigs are woven to create a platform then other twigs are placed to build a dome shape over the platform.  Usually, oak branches are used as the leaves are durable.  The nest will have two "doors" for easy escape in case a predator attacks.  The inner portion is lined with soft leaves, moss and grasses.  In fact, by the time the squirrel is satisfied with its home, the nest will be pretty much sealed against the weather.  Once inside, the squirrel will stay warm and dry.

  Watching this little critter create its home gave me hope that we will actually "have" winter this year.  Last year, was unbelievably warm.  I need cold!  I need winter!  Oh, I need FALL FIRST! 

Here They Come!

  This time of year sees a whole new bunch of critters on the Bayou especially in the way of birds. Birds are migrating southward with the coming of winter and they either stop in for a rest before heading on their merry way or they spend the winter with us.  It makes me happy to see the thousands of waterfowl visiting the area.  Each visit to the pier during late fall, gives me the chance to see new birds.  Some of these are new to me while others are returning friends.  

  A couple of days ago, huge flocks of cormorants could be seen gathering in the Bay.  This is crazy since all of the flocks were flying in FROM the south.  Shouldn't they be heading south if they are migrating? Thousands of birds accumulated in the Bay.  I have never witnessed this many cormorants here at any given time.  Usually, there are at most a few dozen or perhaps even up to a hundred but never this many! When they landed in the water, they immediately started swimming toward each other until there was a thick mass of black as far as I could see. Then, as quickly as they came, the cormorants took flight and disappeared from sight....heading northward!

  The cormorant is a funny bird that will resort to diving beneath the water when threatened instead of taking flight.  They are excellent divers that can swim for long distances beneath the surface.  Perhaps this is why their collective name is a "Swim" of cormorants!  This ability and their hooked beak makes them experts at fishing.  While it was exciting to see so many birds in the Bay at one time, I am sort of glad to see that most have ventured on to parts unknown.  With their fishing expertise, my catches would have most likely come to a halt if they had stayed.  Happy fall...happy migration!