Changing Seasons in Six Months

Same Tree- Different Days

November 2, 2013

May 2, 2013

May 5, 2013

May 19, 2013

The Season of Flowers Past

It is autumn in my northern world. The trees are nearly bare; the flowers fading into memory. But one of my naturalist teachers through remarkable writing reminds me that all is connected, even at these times. I think back to the summer and a flower I may have accidentally hurt or even picked to take a closer look. The flowers of the summer are gone. The flowers of the spring are storing life in a deep, dark sleep. The flowers of autumn are ready to add their molecules to the compost.

All in all, it is a time for regrouping and looking ahead.

But we must be careful. All is connected. All things are one, the stuff of stars and the dust of eons past.

One could not pluck a flower without troubling a star.
Loren Eiseley

The Late "Late Bloomer"

A couple weeks ago I posted a picture that I titled "Late Bloomer," a late summer rose in its beauty. (Below). Well I went by the same place on Friday and the fall freezes have taken their toll.

Late Bloomer

"Autumn roses- beautiful, melancholy roses."

Anton Chekhov, Uncle Vanya

Single Rose

Rochester, MN

October 18, 2013

Video for the Month's Full Moon

Driving home this evening I looked to the east and there was the moon in all its glory. Cool, but not cold evening, high thin clouds and the feeling of the turn of the seasons.

From Wikipedia:

"Harvest Moon" and "Hunter's Moon" are traditional terms for the full moons occurring in autumn, usually in September and October, respectively. The "Harvest Moon" is the full moon closest to autumnal equinox, and the "Hunter's Moon" is the one following it

So for the Hunter's Moon, here's a remarkable video.

And for missing last month's full moon, here's the obvious from Neil Young.

Golden Fall

Golden Colors

Rochester, MN

October 10, 2013

3:44 p.m. (CDT) = Equinox

Maybe next year I will have the time to put together one of these with my pictures. 

Until that time, here is one I found on You Tube. 

Fall has come. 

Watch for the explosions of beauty.

I Have Seen Spring...

...and it is ready to move north.

Early spring flowers, Bon Secour Refuge, Alabama

For the past two weeks we have been enjoying a remarkable vacation in Gulf Shores, AL, where we have had wonderful spring weather. Yes, all northerners who have been struggling with this winter, spring is alive and well and is on its way.

Now I am told that spring moves north about 16 miles/day or about 100 miles/week.

Water lilies in bloom, Bon Secour Refuge, Alabama

A fairly straight shot north to Minnesota from the Gulf of Mexico in Alabama is about 1200 miles. Let's see... 100 miles/week, 1200 miles- that means 12 weeks. No, tell me it ain't so! That would be the third week in May. Arrrggghhh.

Which is actually about the right time for the temps to hit the low 70s. May 21 is the date, on average, when the high temp should be 70. I guess that makes sense, although I know there will be warmer weather before then.

I have seen it- it exists- and it will not be stopped.

So here are some more pictures of spring beginning its northward hike. Enjoy. I have.


 Actually it was quite a fun vacation. Lots and lots of pictures and lots and lots of relaxation. Plenty of pictures and fun to come. Watch for it.

Almost Look Alikes

But only almost.....

Ice on Trees (Elba, MN)

Not Ice on Trees (Gulf Shores, AL)

Look Alikes...

Snow (Whitewater State Park)

Not Snow (Gulf Shores, AL)

....But that's as far as it goes

The End Is Approaching

We have had one of the best Spring-Summer-Fall seasons I can remember in a long, long time.

1st Hike- April 2

It began with an early spring right around the first weekend of April. That was the first weekend that I got out to do some hiking and picture taking at Whitewater State Park (April 2). That was the first of seven spring trips to the park with lots of pictures. My plan is to put them together in a music video over the next few months in time to celebrate spring 2011.

1st Bike Ride in Rochester

Through the season I have done 17 bike/photo rides around the area, reaching past 300 miles for the first time.

It ended with a fall hike through Whitewater two weeks ago with the leaves just past the peak, but still creating beauty.


But the weather is now about to change. We have dropped to normal temps for this weekend. By Wednesday we will be below normal and the first "snow showers" have been talked about but are not in the forecast for Thursday. Yet.

So to celebrate the great 6 3/4 month season, here are some of the pictures from two weeks ago as a cap to 2010 warmth and wonder.

10:09 PM, CDT: Autumnal Equinox

Lord, it is time. The summer was very big. Lay thy shadow on the sundials, and on the meadows let the winds go loose. Command the last fruits that they shall be full; give them another two more southerly days, press them on to fulfillment and drive the last sweetness into the heavenly wine.
-Rainer Maria Rilke

The breezes taste

Of apple peel.

The air is full

Of smells to feel-

Ripe fruit, old footballs,

Burning brush,

New books, erasers,

Chalk, and such.

The bee, his hive,

Well-honeyed hum,

And Mother cuts

Chrysanthemums.

Like plates washed clean

With suds, the days

Are polished with

A morning haze.

- John Updike, September

Smoke hangs like haze over harvested fields,

The gold of stubble, the brown of turned earth

And you walk under the red light of fall

The scent of fallen apples, the dust of threshed grain

The sharp, gentle chill of fall.

Here as we move into the shadows of autumn

The night that brings the morning of spring

Come to us, Lord of Harvest

Teach us to be thankful for the gifts you bring us ...

- Autumn Equinox Ritual

The Last Full Day

of summer, 2010.

 

Ah, and so it now goes.

Tomorrow evening Fall begins.

But this year, temperatures notwithstanding, I have a hunch that the Game of Summer and the Boys of Summer from Minneapolis will be continuing to play.

A September Song

Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh so mellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When grass was green and grain so yellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When you were a young and a callow fellow
Try to remember and if you remember
Then follow--follow, oh-oh.
- Try to Remember, Lyrics by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt

(It will be nice to remember.)

And Summer Nears Its End

Today is the last day of meteorological summer. I woke up to the sound of thunder and rain. I walked outside into a tropical air mass, fogging my glasses. It still felt like summer. But that is about to change.

Thunder storms, rain, wind, clouds- signs of a cold front which is forecast to drop the temperatures into the 70s, actually normal for this time of year. 80s are still forecast for next week but we really do not need a weatherman in Minnesota to tell you that now we are on borrowed time. The calendar turns to September tomorrow and fall is on the way.

And now as I put the finishing touches to this post, severe thunderstorms have rumbled through the area, rain came down and the wind was blowing again. I'm not entirely ready to give up on summer yet.

I Can't Resist Talking About It

Aaahhh!

After a winter with a record number of consecutive days with 10 or more inches of snow on the ground, and one of the longest strings of days below 40 (F), here in the unFrozen Tundra is having Spring.

Early.

We have just finished the first March in recorded history where there was absolutely no snow.

Today's high temp was the normal high for May 31, not March 31.

My bike is in the shop for a spring tune-up and will be ready when the temps rise permanently.

So I will just enjoy it. It is what it is.

March Has Arrived

Yes, it is now meteorological spring.

Yes, the temperature went above freezing yesterday for the 2nd time this month and above freezing highs are forecast for the whole week ahead.

And yes, today is the deadline to get ice houses off the lakes in S. Minnesota.

But it is still Minnesota. Yesterday Garrison Keillor reminded all us Minnesotans that to wish for anything different than winter, even in March, is not the way the order of nature is. Just because it's March does not mean spring.

We have March to let non-drinkers know what a hangover is like.

Oh well.

Imminent Fall

Last Sunday I passed 200 bicycling miles for the summer as I went 26 miles on the Great River Trail in Wisconsin again. This time I was looking for signs of fall. I found them.

I wanted to call the above picture, No Refills, as it was clear that the berries are disappearing from the bushes. And once they're gone, sorry, no more until next year.

Below the red was still subtle, hidden still by the brightness of the green. But it won't be long. Already the green was looking tired and worn out, ready for the colors to make their last fling.

Perhaps this is the best sign of fall... those trees and the ever so slightly dimmer sunshine and that tired green. But what day for a ride!!!!

Brrr - Hiss

When you see the signs, you will know what is happening...

• Sunrise after I arrive at work
• Earthtone colors in the window of the florist
• Pumpkin drink at the Caribou Coffee
• Chilly morning temps
• Wearing jeans- not shorts- after work for the first time in 2 1/2 months.

What is happening is easy to determine. It is fall in Minnesota.

Lazy Hazy Crazy Days

Plucked from the Quote Garden for this first Saturday of Summer and presented without further comment...

In June, as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day. No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them. ~Aldo Leopold

Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it. ~Russel Baker

A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken. ~James Dent

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time. ~John Lubbock