Tag: Autumn
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Autumn Equinox
Autumn equinox is upon us again. Better than daylight savings time, right? Equal day and equal night. A perfect easterly sunrise and a perfect westerly sunset. So many thresholds. August-to-September. Labor Day. First frost. First hard frost. Autumn equinox. Halloween. Daylight savings time. Thanksgiving… Autumn is a season of thresholds. And among the many metaphorical…
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September Poems
Boathouse Bonfire, September 27, 2014 (Source: Geo Davis) If September poems sound overly sentimental to you or if you’re inclined to a grittier observance of the almost-upon-us Autumn Equinox, I’ve got you covered. Soon. Stay tuned. But if you’re comfortable lingering briefly — and these poems are, if nothing else, brief — in the seasonality…
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Seasonality
Seasonality might strike you as a strange menu for organizing a blog (and an even stranger way to navigate a narrative.) But in many respects it may well be the *only* useful way to structure a circular story that’s slim on plot, chronically a-chronological, and deeply immersed in the poetics of place. Summer’s End Haiku As if…
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Undocking
Once upon a time undocking referred to a boat pulling away from a dock, a ship disembarking from a pier. At Rosslyn we also use the term to describe the annual autumn removal of docks (and boat lift) from Lake Champlain once the boats have been hauled and we begin to prepare for the North…
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Seasonality: Septembering
September 1 should logically be indistinguishable from August 31. But it’s not. Seasonality along the Adirondack Coast is irrefutable, and possibly no season-to-season transition more apparent than the one we’re now experiencing. “Septembering” is neither sly nor subtle. Hot and humid yesterday. Crisp and chilly today. There are nuances aplenty to anticipate and enjoy in…
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Off Kilter Boathouse
It’s always a nice pick-me-up when a friend (or a complete stranger) shoots me a snapshot (or a painting, etc.) of Rosslyn’s boathouse. Tom Duca’s sunny snapshot this morning is no exception. Thanks, Tom! Another… Autumn day, blue skies, geese bobbing on the lake beside your boat house. ~ Tom Duca I chuckled when he…
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Autumn Aura on the Adirondack Coast
An autumn aura is descending upon the Adirondack Coast. Autumn colors, autumn lighting, autumn sounds (think southward-flying Canada Geese), autumn textures (think crisp leaves eddying and frosted grass underfoot), autumn smells, and autumn flavors… Thanks, Doug, for snapping that photo above. And for swapping out summer’s lime green sweet potato vines with golden (poetic license?) corn…
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Waterfront Winterization
There comes a time each autumn when summer has faded and winter is whispering over the waves. Or when work, travel, something eclipses the languid stretch of fall boating and watersports. Sometimes earlier, sometimes later, and as inevitable and bittersweet as fall foliage, waterfront winterization is an annual ritual that braces us practically and emotionally for the North Country’s…
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October Wind, Canada Geese and Essex DNA
My day was made when part-time Essex resident Kelly Youngs-Schmitt shared these fun photographs on Facebook. Kelly’s a relatively new acquaintance (although her Essex connection is far deeper, longer and more historically significant than my own.) But the Facebook-powered social web and the curiously compelling Essex DNA have brought us together. She participates in the Essex on…
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Early Autumn
Autumn appears to be coming early this year. For at least a week nights have been dropping into the chilly 50s. And this morning I see that temperatures slid even lower. Perhaps this is normal? Yet it doesn’t seem normal. The 40s in mid August? In Essex, New York? On the shores of Lake Champlain…
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Autumn Vegetable Garden Update
It’s been getting considerably cooler at night lately, and feeling fall-like much earlier than the last few years. We’ve already had two nights that broke forty degrees! But still no killing frost. The vegetable garden is still thick with produce. We’ve been eating cantaloupes and musk melons just as quickly as we can. The same…