A robust flock of Wild Turkeys 🦃 suddenly appear as I head out early this morning.
A good omen.
It’s a fine cloudy day thus far with moisture in the air and a coolness rarely found in mid August. Heading out down a favorite shady lane where I last saw a doe among the young pine grove. When I stopped and spoke to her, she simply lay down and began her siesta, even though I was only about 8 ft. from her.
On the far side of the hill
Green, green I’m going away
To where the grass is greener still.
Summer’s End or Samhain (Sow-en) is starting to show in the wild places…
Weather report for next week: possibility of rainstorms with highs in 80s.
Rose Hips! At long last. They will be sweeter after the first frost when the hips turn a darker red.
Shown here growing amongst the purple Bittersweet Nightshade, abundant about Washington state, especially around marshes and boggy areas. Do not eat…it was a favorite poison of kings used against their rivals, as when Macbeth of Scotland poisoned an army of Danes. Also in witches flying ointment, as well as used by Italian women to dilate pupils, enhancing their beauty: belladonna.
Synchronicity: Last night I was listening to Strange Familiars podcast featuring Jeff from Ontario who experienced a weird cryptid whilst out picking rose hips!
No harm came to him, but the creature was so odd that he dared not turn his back on it, but simply backed away, walking backwards out of there!
Entire podcast is worth a listen, but this particular tale begins about
1:02:46
Ahh, here is a nice change of space. On west side of town near me
known as Browne’s Addition, the oldest part of city.
And this is the view just behind the wee pond…near Indian Canyon where Latah Creek joins with the Spokane River.
Unique statue. That fox wouldn’t stand for it in real life. Interesting horse carving on stag’s flank.
At Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture.
……….
September now.
We are finally getting a bit of smoke from western OR and WA, as well as ID and Canada.
Glad that summer is nearing an end and there will be rain soon.
Tell-tale autumnal foliage creeping in like the Horseman into the Hollow…
far from where I go marketing.
Which brings us to Summerween in Sleepy Hollow…
Let us join Jonas and Lindsay in Sleepy Hollow to help celebrate Summerween!
Mushrooms and nightshade and cat tails, O my…
Nightshade lush amid cat tails. !!! Beware of red berries growing among rose hips…
September 14th and RAIN ☔️!
Last day of rain was July 15th so only August was a month without rain.
And, thankfully, the smoke is finally clearing out.
So glad that happened in late summer and lasted only 3 days.
Last night I heard my first 🦉 OWL call here in WA, around 4:30 a.m.
Sounded just like the owl that sat outside my window in CA.
Maybe she followed me?
A low to mid-range: Hooo, hoo hoo. A long hooo, followed by a couple of short hoos.
Could be a Great Grey or Great Horned owl.
No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist
Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine;
Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss'd
By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine;
Make not your rosary of yew-berries,
Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be
Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl
A partner in your sorrow's mysteries;
For shade to shade will come too drowsily,
And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul.
Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine;
Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss'd
By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine;
Make not your rosary of yew-berries,
Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be
Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl
A partner in your sorrow's mysteries;
For shade to shade will come too drowsily,
And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul.
John Keats - Ode on Melancholy
