Queen Anne’s Lace: Re-opening for Business
Queen Anne’s lace really stands out in a crowd when it’s in bloom. The big umbrella-shaped white flowers are hard to miss. But when fall comes, the plant closes up shop. The round flower head clenches itself up like a fist and forms a tight brown clump sometimes known as a “bird’s-nest.” It’s not a nest for birds, it’s more of a restaurant, since the birds come and check out the clumps for insects and spiders that might be hiding inside. Then, the amazing part–the Queen Anne’s lace flower, apparently dead, stiff and dried-up, re-opens. It...
Read MoreThe Witch House
Salem Massachusetts. What better place to visit in the month of Halloween? I decided to check out this quaint little New England village, famed for its spooky history. Not sure exactly what I expected to find. Witches, I guess. Hm. Not exactly the quaint little village I was expecting, I decided, as I circled the jammed municipal parking lot for the third time and finally took refuge in the four-story parking garage. Salem ceased to be a village anywhere approaching quaint a few centuries ago, and became a major shipping port–in fact there’s an official National Park here: Salem...
Read MoreGhostly Skies
Clouds drifting across a cold autumn sky. Seems like ghosts hovering overhead, getting ready for Halloween.
Read MoreThree Rocks a Day
I’m going to build rock wall. That’s what I decided, three years ago. A long rock wall along the foundation of the house and another alongside our beat-up old garage. It will look scenic, rustic, picturesque. Classic New England, Robert Frost and all that. I love rock walls, and they’re easy to build, right? After all, how hard can it be to pile one rock on top of another? I started out one bright fall day with a pile of flat stones and a lot of enthusiasm. After ten minutes, things were still going pretty well. After twenty minutes I’d dropped a rock on my finger and...
Read MoreDoorways in the Grass: Funnel Web Spiders
Trailside, on a damp October morning. Circles of diamond dew-drops, magically suspended above the ground in neat circular patterns. I had to look closely to see the threads of web that held up the water droplets, and even more closely to see the funnel-shaped door at the top of the circle. The home of the funnel web spider. I’ve always loved the sight of these dainty webs, like lace handkerchiefs strewn across the ground. And sometimes I can’t resist the temptation to tap one with a finger and watch the little spider dart out to see if dinner has arrived, and then vanish back...
Read MoreDark Shadows
Hanging around with a young-at-heart old friend, in the parking lot behind the Emerald Cinema in Amsterdam, waiting for a movie to start. The lovely evening of a clear fall day, not a cloud on the sunset horizon. Our shadows loomed ahead of us as though we were a hundred feet tall–giants on stilts.
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