Friday at lunch I walked down to the pond in the Research Park.

Lots of fall colour, ducks and some dogs out for a walk. A man

was walking three dogs a Rottweiler, a Border Collie mix and a rather

chubby older dog While the other two moved along at a good pace the

older dog followed slowly, no leash required, it's man did touch

it regularly. Its attention seemed totally focused on keeping up.

Finally when the other two stopped to sniff and watch ducks it

forged ahead. On finding itself in the lead it stopped and waited.

I thought it had a sweet face.

"Well, there is time left -

fields everywhere invite you into them

And who will care, who will chide you if you wander away

from wherever you are, to look for your soul?"

Quickly then, get up, put on your coat, leave your desk!

Have You Ever Tried to Enter the Long Black Branches

                                               Mary Oliver

I found this beetle last week in the parking lot

at work. I am always surprised to find aquatic

beetles in areas some distance from water. Twice

I have found Giant Water Bugs, a creature I first

encountered in the pages of Annie Dillard's

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek a couple of blocks from

my office. I assume they mistake the dark asphalt

for water. This was considerably smaller than the

Giant Water Bug Lethocerus americanus.

I have identified it as a Mid-Sized Diving Beetle

Colymbetes sculptilis

If I am mistaken please let me know.

" Our life is a faint tracing on the surface of mystery,

like the idle, curved tunnels of leaf miners on the face

of a leaf. We must somehow take a wider view,

look at the whole landscape, really see it... "

 Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

                         Annie Dillard

Autumn

Fall Wind

Pods of summer crowd around the door;

I take them in the autumn of my hands.

Last night I heard the first cold wind outside:

the wind blew soft, and yet I shiver twice:

Once for thin walls, once for the sound of time.

                                   William Stafford

This morning we had impressive clouds

the colour seems a bit more dramatic

than I remember but I did not do much

editing. They did not signify extreme

weather, we had a cloudy morning and

a warm mild afternoon.

I am working on cloud identification

I think these are cumulus but I would

welcome a correction if you disagree.

Kathie from http://kathiesbirds.blogspot.com/

has suggested these are mammatus clouds

and they certainly look like them. Thanks Kathie 

"Never alone

While over unending sky

Clouds move for ever.

Calling them beautiful

Humanity is in love with creatures of mist."

                                          Cloud

                                              Kathleen Raine

I had not be filling my birdbaths as much since

we filled the pond which is very popular with the

small birds. However within a few minutes of

cleaning it out a magpie had bathed and was

primping in the tree.

 

" Whose voices carry on the wind: they send

their rambling dactyls through the morning air

with the dark fret-and-flutter of wings,

a cry feathered between syllables,"

Bedrock

                    David Solway

"Sometimes I have the feeling that words lead a

private existence of their own, apart from us,

and that when we speak or write,

especially in moments of strong emotion,

we do little more than hitch a ride on some

obliging syllable or accommodating phrase. "

Poetry as Isotope:

The Hidden Life of Words

           Eric Ormsby

Last weekend it was time to check out the

garden. Fall is here but a few plants are holding

on. The Hollyhock is in it's glory.

There was a lone Geranium.

But the Coral Bells were beautiful. I am always

fascinated at how an insect's colours so often seems

to compliment the flower it appears on no matter

where I see it.

"Fair Quiet, have I found thee here,
And Innocence, thy sister dear!
Mistaken long, I sought you then
In busy companies of men :
Your sacred plants, if here below,
Only among the plants will grow ;
Society is all but rude,
To this delicious solitude."

The Garden

Andrew Marvell

I posted earlier about how happy I was to have

attracted a Blue Jay to my backyard feeders.

I thought it only fair to show the cast of

characters who have had the even tenor of their

days shattered by a noisy blue jerk.



"This is the treacherous month when autumn days

With summer's voice come bearing summer's gifts.

Beguiled, the pale down-trodden aster lifts

Her head and blooms again. The soft, warm haze

Makes moist once more the sere and dusty ways,

And, creeping through where dead leaves lie in drifts, "

Autumn Sonnet

Helen Hunt Jackson