A second Look at Squirrels
Small birds throw seeds out of the feeder; large birds pick them up off the ground, but the squirrels try to muscle in. - Lilian Jackson Braun
10/05/2022 - Long stretch to the suet
We battle over
bird seed and suet.
you climb
the skinny pole,
slippery with grease
and
holding on with hind feet -
stretch your whole body
to grasp a bite,
while i sit
in my warm house
watching,
waiting to run you off.
10/05/2022 - Squirrel Eyeing me cautiously while climbing to the bird feeder
Do you wonder
out there in the cold-
why I would
tempt you
with sweet morsels
10/05/2022 Black Squirrel on Red Feeder (looking fearful)
then come out yelling
and waving my arms
when you eat them?
October 7, 2022
scurry and dray
small and light
they float
over the earth
arcing their bodies
curling their tails
float.
arc.
curl.
a soft rustle
of leaves
a pause.
float.
arc.
curl.
a leap.
float.
into (or
out of)
the trees
always.
to scurry
or
dray.
(A group of squirrels is either called a scurry or a dray - but scurry is how they move, and dray is what their nests are called…)
October 2 - October 7, 2022 - I found a pile of acorns on the beach before sunset on Sunday night - and had the bright idea to make a squirrel shape in the sand with them… I always think of squirrels when I see acorns … I thought it would be fun to take a picture of it every day - to see the decline…as it happened; the whole thing stayed intact for days. Until a storm came and it disappeared. My footprints are where it should have been in the last picture. It’s the nature of ephemeral creations - you can’t predict their endings.
Consider the Fallen Leaf
How beautiful the leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days. - John Burroughs
October 3, 2022 - A fallen maple leaf in the evening sun
Consider the Fallen Leaf
i saw the leaf before me
full of holes,
curling in upon itself
turning brown
fragile
disintegrating
i saw its veins
darkened by sunlight -
its stem caught
in the crack of a stair
i saw its long shadow
stretching
curling in upon itself
full of holes
i saw the leaf before me
October 3, 2022 - Gathered Leaves and needles from Pier Cove Ravine Trail
October 3, 2022 - Gathering leaves on the trail today, I realized I didn’t really know much about leaves. What do they do for the tree, why do they change colors this time of year, why do they fall off, or if they don’t fall off, why not? Here’s what I learned:
Leaves use water, air and sunlight along with the chlorophyll they already contain to make food (sugar - sucrose) (for the tree. In the fall, when light changes, the chlorophyll starts to break down and whatever color is left in the leaf; depending on its particular chemistry is the color you see. The leaves help the tree grow as long as there is sunlight and available water; but in the winter, when there is less sunlight, and the hard ground makes it difficult for the tree to absorb water, the leaves need to fall off in order for the tree to conserve water. The reason evergreens don’t lose all of their leaves is that their needles or leaves are coated and don’t cause the tree to lose water, so they don’t need to be shed. In warm climates, some trees that are not traditionally considered evergreen also don’t lose their leaves; because they have more available sunlight, and the ground doesn’t freeze. Once leaves fall, of course, they still feed and protect the tree by covering the ground and then breaking down into compost. Birth life - death - rebirth - over and over again every year. It’s amazing.
October 4, 2022 - Fall. Falling. Fallen.
October 4, 2022. We’ve experienced a bluff collapse on Lake Michigan the past few years… it makes for striking images on the beach. The land slid down, trees slid down with it, some falling and dying, some managing to survive in a new location. They are all here; the fallen, the falling and the living - going through fall transition.
October 4, 2022. Sentinels
October 4, 2022. I saw a group of red pines standing next to a house on my run Tuesday night. Evergreens. Tall and regal. Soldiers standing at attention.
Bursting
08/26/2022 Saugatuck Michigan - Atteva Aurea on Coneflower
Atteva Aurea
Along the floodplain
Wild coneflower blossoms,
Yellow-
With a pale green core
and all around it
thin-bodied moths,
black, orange and white -
alight and explore,
like astronauts
probing another planet.
August 26, 2022 I walked to the Mildred A Peterson Nature Preserve today after yoga. I knew from my running group that there was a trail through there into the northern edge of Saugatuck, and that it would probably be pretty peaceful on a Friday morning. I was hoping to get some pictures of dragonflies… I didn’t. BUT. I saw these beautiful yellow flowers that I thought were daisies until I looked them up and found out that they are cutleaf coneflowers, native to North America; found mostly around wetlands like this. They were covered with so many different kinds of insects that I didn’t see until I got in close to get some pictures. An entire society living right under my nose. So many colors, so many shapes – some familiar, like the bee; some alien to me; like the dragonfly-ish dark small-winged creature sitting on a petal.
08.26/2022 Bee pollinating Cutleaf Cornflower
08/26/2022 Wild white perennial pea
August 26, 2022 - Not sure what this flower is.. growing in the pond.
August 27, 2022 Three deer on the edge of the bluff as i was finishing my run
08/28/2022 Roadside daisies
August 28, 2022 I started taking pictures of yellow flowers for my sister, Rita, because she loves yellow - and flowers, but after I took a few, I understood. It’s like sunshine, even when the day is gloomy.
August 29, 2022 Not sure if anyone but me would find this touching; but the dried out, holey leaf looked so much like an old, much worn jacket hanging up to dry…and in a way, I guess it is.
August 29, 2022 Playing with perspective - a rock inside a shell with the sun setting like a cherry on top.
August 29, 2022 Wally. A toy walrus I found on a road trip through south Florida. He’s been traveling with me everywhere. I took him down to sunset to get his silhouette over the lake. Just for fun.