Fall advances

Yesterday Ginger and I took our morning walk along the dyke of the northeast drainage canal. Everywhere we could see signs of fall's advance.  The Salt Cedar (an invasive species but very common in the southwest) is turning a carroty rust color. These are shrubs or small trees with ferny looking foliage. You'd expect them to be evergreens but they are only semi-so. They are also called Tamarisk. In the spring they bloom with tiny pink flowers.

The sneeze weeds have gone to seed and are drying up. That is good! And a weedy grass called spangletop showed off its mauve-hued seed heads or panicles, looking  almost misty when the sun shines through them. Mesquite has gone a dull olive now with a few yellow leaves appearing. The quail, which pair up in late spring to mate and raise their clutches, are back in flocks now and scurry off as we pass near their groups. If we get too close, some fly with a great whir and rustle. Ginger wants to chase them!  So fall is here. There was even a white cap from the recent passing storm--that brought us only wind--on the conical peak that looms over Ruidoso and Capitan to the northeast of us. It is over 9000 feet high and was partly burned in last year's Little Bear Fire.

My apricot tree has gone a pretty golden shade and is now losing leaves in every breeze. I did get a picture

the other day. Isn't the gold lovely against the blue sky? Odd, the nectarine and a shade tree in the yard are still quite green. We were supposed to get a frost last night as there was a freeze warning all across southern New Mexico--about on schedule--but it did not get much under 40 at my house. Which is okay! I guess milder weather has its bad side as it goes with the drought that still prevails but I can't object.

With my Druid leanings and their connection to the earth and her seasons I cherish the chance to get out and witness the slow turning of the year's wheel and the subtle signs of each change as it shifts into place. Fall and spring are my favorites. I am less fond of winter although I recognize it is a key to the whole cycle. All of nature needs to rest, regroup and prepare to be active and fertile again when spring comes! Even me--who does slow down with less sun-energy!

The passing storms of course bring some clouds--though no rain here--and result in fabulous sunsets! I tend to take a lot more pictures now that I use a digital camera. It is nice not to have to worry about wasting film. So you snap away, delete the crummy ones at the first viewing and then download the rest to go through more carefully! So here are a couple of my fave new sunsets!  Do you see the dragons in the lower one? One has glowing eyes and the other flies the opposite way! We are blessed here with the most fantastic sunsets I have ever seen any place in my life, spectacular and rather frequent they are.

Last but not least, the night sky is spectacular too when the nights are clear. Favorite old friends in the sky look down as again the patterns shift for the season's change. The big triangle formed by the key stars of The Swan, Aquila and Lyra (also called The Owl) are well to the west now by dark and the swan dives almost straight into the horizon. Orion appears too and other constellations have moved on; the stars of summer are gone. But Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Auriga and others take their place.  I wrote a verse or two about this in the past.

            Late Fall Sky With Orion

Across the broad black bowl of night

The hunter strides his endless way,

His loyal pack hard upon his heels

Torch-bright until the dawn of day.

Perhaps he loves this solitude—

He hunts alone save for his hounds;

With kilt and sword he seeks his prey,

A Highland man who knows no bounds.

                        (c) GMW, 7 Dec 2011

            Winter Sky    

The swan with kami-kazi song

Its dagger drives into the west,

While eastward rising, beacon bright,   

With brilliant torch does Sirius light

The hunter’s way across the night,        

       Along the silver stream.     

Upon their thrones, the mythic pair

Reign over cold and darkness now.

And the fiery chariot of the north,

Led by Capella, flashes forth.   

Displayed on velvet, a fortune’s worth

      Of jewels may fill my dream.

                        (c) GMW, 1996