The winds of change

The bench by the lagoon

And every year there is a brief, startling moment
When we pause in the middle of a long walk home and
Suddenly feel something invisible and weightless
Touching our shoulders, sweeping down from the air:
It is the autumn wind pressing against our bodies;
It is the changing light of fall falling on us.

~ Edward Hirsch, Fall

Light passed from cloud to cloud

I’m sitting on the bench near the lagoon, listening to the roar and howls of the wind, waiting for it to knock me on the ground.  The trees look tipsy as they bend and curve and twist.

Tipsy trees

I planned to go out to the bench on the dock, but the creaking of the trees and the flying branches canceled that plan.  To be honest, I’m a little leery of the woods after yesterday’s encounter with a large snake.  It was a Black Rat Snake, perfectly harmless.  I’d seen him slithering across the grass towards the garden, but didn’t notice when he went into the woods.  I stopped to admire a holly tree on the woodland path on my way back from a visit to the dock, and didn’t notice the snake was just a few feet away from me until he jumped and slid back into the woods.  He must have grown tired of waiting for me to move.  Right after he jumped, I jumped.  I also let out a loud scream, feeling silly afterwards.  It was just a snake.  Perfectly harmless.  I suppose I would have reacted the same way if it had been a rabbit or a deer.  Startled away from the holly leaves and berries, and back into the world around me.

Waving branches

It is a warm and humid day.  A remnant of summer.  Early this morning, before the sun came up, a rain shower sailed in and out while I drifted in and out of sleep.  This steamy soup of air will probably create strong storms when the expected cold front moves in later today.  A clash of the seasons, Summer vs. Autumn.

Across the water, on the other side of the lagoon

All sorts and sizes of clouds are racing across the sky, some low, others higher up serving as a background for the faster moving clouds below them.

The clouds behind me

Several buzzards fly overhead, chased by a group of crows.  I know a group of crows is called a murder, but I don’t like the word.  A congress of crows, the alternative to murder, sounds better.  There are ravens in the group.  From this distance, I can’t tell them apart from the crows, but their calls are different.  A group of ravens is called a conspiracy, an unkindness, a constable.  I wonder who came up with those terms?

Red and green

Do the turkey buzzards winter here on the Eastern Shore?  Or do they move farther south?  I’ll have to look that up someday.

Hiding

I started this post earlier today.  Much of it is based on my bench writings when I was out for a walk.   I also meant to have it scheduled to go out at the usual time.  Heavy cloud cover and storms do not make for a good satellite connection.  The dark clouds and rain arrived before I had a chance to finish this off and polish it up.  Something else arrived around the same time.

Changing colors

We’re having an unusually high tide due to the proximity to the new moon, the wind, and wave action, and that put us under a Coastal Flood Advisory.  High tide was around 4:00 pm, and boy is it high!  The path through the woods is flooded, and you can’t get to the dock without hip boots on (unless, of course, you don’t mind wading through the water and getting wet).

I’m on my way out to check out the roads along the creek.  I’ll bring you some photos tomorrow.

In the meantime, thank you for stopping by.  I hope all is well with you, and that you had a good Monday.  Pardon any typos.  I want to get this out while I have a working connection.

Leaning with the wind

Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be.  🙂

Light in the woods