Only someone who has experienced drought can understand my great delight in seeing puddles. We have them!
More than an inch of rain fell night before last. The drought isn't broken; we are still 10-12" below normal, but this is a beginning.
It's been a cool, overcast day, a day when colors are more vivid and the air is sweet with moisture and decay. This growth cycle has reached its senescence. Virginia creeper – a stubborn, persistent denizen of our woods – is always the first to turn its color. It loves our old limestone wall, built by Dennis, Barry, Pam, and a host of KU students 35 years ago. Every few years the ivy completely covers the wall. That's when we rip it all away and let it begin again. This is two years' growth.
What, you may ask, is the white area of the wall? The white stones were laid at the same time as all the others, but while the others have grown darker with age, this area has progressively lost its natural tan color. Here is one of the stones, half black, half white, close up.
This phenomenon must be related to the elm tree that overhangs the wall. The tree seems to be bleeding sap onto the stones. How strange that it isn't red.
The chiggers have departed. Some water has fallen from the sky. Autumn has replaced the horrid summer and I'm back outdoors, wandering the place I love most in the world. I'm such a lucky woman.
More than an inch of rain fell night before last. The drought isn't broken; we are still 10-12" below normal, but this is a beginning.
It's been a cool, overcast day, a day when colors are more vivid and the air is sweet with moisture and decay. This growth cycle has reached its senescence. Virginia creeper – a stubborn, persistent denizen of our woods – is always the first to turn its color. It loves our old limestone wall, built by Dennis, Barry, Pam, and a host of KU students 35 years ago. Every few years the ivy completely covers the wall. That's when we rip it all away and let it begin again. This is two years' growth.
What, you may ask, is the white area of the wall? The white stones were laid at the same time as all the others, but while the others have grown darker with age, this area has progressively lost its natural tan color. Here is one of the stones, half black, half white, close up.
The chiggers have departed. Some water has fallen from the sky. Autumn has replaced the horrid summer and I'm back outdoors, wandering the place I love most in the world. I'm such a lucky woman.
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