AUTUMN IN NEW ENGLAND !

It was a somewhat Sanguine yet cold August day in New England.
The day was one of those near perfect days, hordes of white cumulus clouds
hung in a field of blue that covered the green earth like a mantle.
It was the kind of day where you enjoyed all of God’s creatures,
even the solitary mosquito that continuously buzzed around the back of your neck.
As the sun makes its way to the ground.
An overlay of brown straw in the field out back swayed slowly in the slightest of breezes.
The same breeze that brushed across your brow beneath the cap’s brim
and made the copper wind chimes sing in the crisp autumn air.

Beyond the field of straw, behind the pond,the earth lends way into the trees.
The trees swayed against the blue and white sky.
Here and there a splash of red marked the tall and stately Ornamental Pear trees,
whose tops were tainted with early vestiges of Fall.
The solitude was broken by the occasional bark of a grey squirrel,
a passing crow now and then, and the steady sound of
Crickets and Grasshoppers rubbing their legs together.

Faintly, just faintly, every once in a while,
you can hear a lone tractor trailer as it winds its way North or South
along Route 72. Or the deep throated purr from
a Harley Davidson rumbling down the highway.
Looking east high above the Maple trees there was a hawk
circling in the up drafts seeking out dinner perhaps.
Couldn't make out what type of hawk, it was too far away.
Closer in view are almost a dozen Hummingbirds
energetically flying from one sweet orange Trumpet vine
flower to another on the Pergola.
Cool weather has slowed the progress of the vegetable garden,
a half ripe, half eaten tomato sits
waiting to be finished off by a Chipmunk,
while the colorful perennial flowers gleam in all their August splendor.

There are many insects out this time of day, all oblivious as to my presence.
They seem to be different than I remember growing up as a kid.
There different shapes and sizes.
With different colors and designs upon their wings.
One looks almost fluorescent green another a deep fire engine red.
One I later found out was a Sphinx Moth.
Looking like a big bee while acting like a Hummingbird
flying from flower to flower just a foot away from me.

Adult Hummingbirds weigh no more than a nickel,
and they are renowned for using more energy per unit
of body weight than any other known animal in the world.
They can hover or move backwards, with wings rotating from the shoulder.
The wind calms down this time of day as the sun is
almost beneath the curvature of the earth now.
Sitting in the Gazebo listening to a frog croaking in the frog pond.
A drop of liquid hits me on the front of my shirt,
looking up to the underside of the roof at its peak,
there is a group of bees busily filling the combs of their nest.
The mosquitoes are out in force now and the Lightning bugs are beginning to appear.
Thinking this would be the perfect time to grill up a T-Bone.
I decided it's time to go inside and write another chapter
of a book about the wooly bear caterpillars and their
predictions of the up and comming cold winter months.


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