In Hancock County, Maine
Mother Nature reaches the prime of her annual life in early September here. You have to be pretty far gone not to feel alive on a good early September day in Maine. But there’s always a turning point in September when we find with surprise that Mother Nature is starting to show her age. It’s the time that we suddenly realize that the wonderful summer – and all that it represents -- has abandoned us with just a few already-fading memories.
(© 2015 R J Leighton)
To slow this loss, we’re sending you and ourselves September “postcards,” delivered by the link below. These are images of just a few of the small moments in the month that we’ll use in the winter months to tease our memories into remembering the larger picture. The September that we want to remember includes, among many others, the following experiences that we invite you to enjoy vicariously if you wish:
->Smelling freshly-mowed grasses and wildflowers blended with the tangy scent of sea air as our north field is mowed.
-> Sneaking up on a flotilla of male Wood Ducks while they apparently were discussing whether to migrate (some do, some don’t) and the fact that faces of some of them already have lost their dramatic war paint and returned to winter gray. (This is their so-called eclipse phase; Mother Nature’s one consolation is to allow these males to retain their startling Maraschino cherry eyes.)
(© 2015 R J Leighton)
-> Gazing through the branches of unattended apple trees festooned with thousands of apples, most of which will fall and rot and add a sweetness to salty coastal winds.
(© 2015 R J Leighton)
-> Enjoying the graceful energy of sailing craft of all sizes, even little boats swinging in the current at their moorings; then, poignantly watching them being mechanically plucked from their liquid environment and stacked in boathouses like specimens in museum storage or shrink-wrapped like mummies.
-> Watching the emergence of fresh fall flowers, including graceful Fall Dandelions (Leontodon autumnalis) that appear on long legs and take over the job of buttercups, sprinkling the browning fields with fresh yellow dabs. (These are not to be confused with their poor relation, the lawn-killing Common Dandelion [Taraxacum officinale].)
(© 2015 R J Leighton)
-> Looking up in darkness as our earth passes between the sun and the moon and produces a red cast on the full moon; this is a rare Super Blood Moon Eclipse that only can happen when the full moon is closest to us. (This last happened in 1982 and won’t happen again until 2033.)
You can join us on the virtual version of Remembering September by clicking the link below to see the images, which can viewed in about 30 seconds. We recommend that your initial screening of the images be a full-frame slideshow. (To make that happen, click on the SLIDESHOW button above the featured [largest] image on the gallery page to which the link will take you. Press Esc to return to the thumbnail gallery.) Here's the link:
https://leightons.smugmug.com/Maine/Out/Postcards-From-Maine/
Cheers,
Barbara and Dick