Early Fog.

10-20-12 SHORT HILLS: We had an all day rain yesterday, but today it’s going to be sunny. Now, in the early morning, it’s foggy, all the rain is evaporating and saturating the air. The effect of the fog changes the familiar into the exotic, the expected into the alien. The color is pretty good, but dimmed and diffused by the fog, and, at the same time, lit up by the rising sun. I braved the wet grass and leaves to try and capture the effect.


Burning bush starting to ignite.

Sweet Gum.

Sugar Maple.

Fall Color.

10-16-12 SHORT HILLS: We’re back to seasonal weather, today is breezy, sunny, fifties, and the only precip is leaves. Next week, we will be a month past the autumnal equinox and the sun will be halfway between the Equator and the southern-most point of its journey.

The new grass is coming in well where the oak tree was removed. I’m pretty much caught up on chores here, but plenty of work remains in Vermont for next week.


Beauty Berry, aptly named, neon purple and enjoyed by the birds.

Dogwood showing nice color.

Leaf Season Continues.

10-13-12 SHORT HILLS: We’ve been catching up on chores and errands and time slips by. Sorry about the five day silence. We almost had a frost last night. It was in the low thirties. We have had another half inch of rain. The ash trees are almost completely leafless, but the usual holdouts are still green. Maples are beginning to color.

Our Vermont correspondent reported snow flurries yesterday afternoon. I think the changes are happening earlier than last year, but tomorrow afternoon is supposed to be back in the seventies.


Some maple color, but not peak here yet.

Ash tree leaves are down, but won't be raked up.

Chill in the Air.

10-8-12 VERMONT: The last two days have been chilly, enough to wear a coat, have your nose run and see your breath. It’ll probably get warm again, but this is a sample of fall to come. There was no frost.

Yesterday I went on a hike for the UVLT [Upper Valley Land Trust] led by Roger and Ann for about seven of us. It was an easy walk in the woods with nice views at the end, followed by wine and cheese.

Today I was back at work cutting down all the corn stalks, pulling up the tomato stalks and cutting down an unruly wild rose that was intruding on the good roses. I cleared out the bleeding heart bed on the patio.

Short Hills tomorrow.


Hike in VT, views in NH.

Turkeys in the Rain.

10-6-12 VERMONT: Yesterday was gorgeous, after the morning mist burnt off, things dried out and it got up to the seventies. We started the workday by putting all the benches and outdoor furniture away in the cellars.

Then I started taking down the veggie garden, first I pulled the electric fence and the watering hose and then the tomato cages and the supports that I had made when the corn stalks were blown over. Those worked out pretty well, by the way.

After I stored all that stuff in the barn, I went to work on the garden border fences. Judy had pulled several of them up, so I just had to fold, tie and label them. It doesn’t sound like so much, but it took all day.

Today started overcast and began to rain hard in the afternoon. I finished the garden work in the morning before the rain. All the fences are stored, and all the supports, stakes, hoops, ties are put away in the garage. More of them will probably appear when I cut down all the dead stalks after a hard frost. Now the perennials are mostly still green and some still flowering.

A flock of six turkeys cruised the yard in the afternoon, ignoring the rain. They were busy eating something [seeds?] in the grass as they moseyed from one side of the yard to the other and then crossed the road.

New blooms: cimicfuga, witch-hazel.


Yesterday: Chloe doesn't mind the wet grass. Notice that the sun is out, by mid-morning it was beautiful and clear and dry.

Turkeys came out of the woods and were busy eating something in the grass as they strolled through the yard....

and headed across the road.

Drizzle and Fog.

10-4-12 VERMONT: We got here in the mid-afternoon yesterday after a trip up through the rain and mist. Everything here is soaked. There are puddles and standing water everywhere. The rain gauge was filled to the top, it records up to five inches, but was filled beyond that at least another inch. This morning was foggy, in fact the whole day was foggy with drizzle. The ceiling starts at the treetops.

The fall color is probably at peak here. Every year I point out that color is quite variable from neighborhood to neighborhood depending on sun exposure, altitude, micro-climate, tree species and, of course, latitude. That said, the color is good here and would be far better with some sunlight, and we might get some tomorrow.

New blooms: monkshood, asters, sedum, boltonia.


When it's really wet, odd things pop up. Anyone know this mushroom?

The color is probably at peak here.

A little sunshine will light this up.

“L’Elisir d’Amore”

10-2-12 SHORT HILLS: It’s been distinctly autumnal this week, but is supposed to be warmer, with rain, the next several days. There’s already 0.2 inches in the rain gauge.

We’re still in Italian mode, we heard Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore” at the Met last night and ate at Café Fiorello before the opera. The meal and performance were both great. Anna Netrebko, one of my favs, was Adina and Matthew Polenzani was Nemorino.

When we walked to our seats in the orchestra, the curtain showed an Italian plain, with vineyards and distant hilltop villages, and the village piazza stage set in the first act were just what we had been seeing on our trip. So, I will show a few more pix from Apulia. Also, I don’t have anything new to show.

Vermont tomorrow.


More Italy: St. Oronzo, patron saint of Lecce, high atop a pillar in the central piazza.

Pompei, Apollo, reproduction of the statue found in the ruins of his temple.