A Committee of Vultures.

10-31-18 SHORT HILLS: Today was warm and sunny, but before it warmed up, early this morning, I saw two raptors in the bright blue sky. They landed in a tree top down the block. I got pix from the bedroom window. Yesterday Judy saw one in a different tree near the driveway and got an iPhone pic. All the vultures might mean that Trump is back at his golf course in Bernardsville.

The ash trees are all bare, and the black walnuts are almost there too. Some maples are in good color. The burning bushes are bright red.

New blooms: African violet [thanks, Donna].


A pair of turkey vultures in a tree about a block away from us early this morning. The lower one on the left has a dark face and the black-tipped beak of an immature bird.

A black vulture that Judy caught yesterday with her iPhone. This one was on our corner. The vultures must mean that Trump is nearby.
 
Burning bush on a sunny afternoon.

Here's the cyclamen in the sun room that I meant to post last time.

Nor'easter and Philharmonic.

10-28-18 SHORT HILLS: Last night we went to the NY Philharmonic performance as the Nor’easter was winding down. Here we got 1.4 inches of rain and gusty winds, but only small branches down in the yard. We are west of the local mountains, hills actually, but they shelter us from easterly storms.

The Phil did an all-Russian program that was very well received by the crowd that had many Russians in attendance. They did Borodin’s In the Steppes of Central Asia from 1880, Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No.1 from 1917, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.4 from 1878. The Russian guest conductor, Tugan Sokhiev, is animated and enthusiastic. The violin soloist, Gil Shaham, is a New Yorker and did an encore after many curtain calls, very unusual for the NY Phil.

Today we did a dog walk with Ron and Bebe, and last week we had dinner with Mike and Marjorie.

It seems to me that there are more crazies, shooters and bombers, loose out there than ever. Has something or someone given them a sense of permission?

If you thought you were a prominent Democrat, but you didn’t get a mail bomb, you’re not on the A-list.

New blooms: cyclamen [in the sun room].


Cyclamen are blooming in the sun room. They seem to have enjoyed the outdoor summer.

We were at the NY Philharmonic last night as the Nor'easter was winding down. Here's the Met Opera with the Chagalls showing up pretty well.

Geffen Hall, née Fisher Hall, is the NY Phil hangout.

The Josie Robertson Plaza fountain between Geffen Hall and Koch Theatre. Trump doesn't have his name on any public buildings, only his commercial properties.

Nice color here on the morning dog walk.

Social Swirl.

10-21-18 SHORT HILLS: Today was another windy and cold one. Next Tuesday night in Boston looks to be cold and maybe wet for the start of the World Series.

Yesterday we drove ‘down the shore’, a Jerseyism for going to the beach, to Seaside Park to visit friends Bob and Chris, the F Street Band, and we were joined by Jo-Ann, part of the Lincoln Brigade, for dinner. Today we had brunch in NYC with Leeza and Roger. It’s been very social—last Tuesday night we had dinner with Paul and Helene, also in NYC, and Wednesday Bill and Lynn joined us at the usual place. And, next Tuesday we will see Ron and Bebe.

In the yard, all the windy weather has, predictably, caused a rain of branches to fall on the shrubs and grass. I have been picking them off the shrubs and  breaking them all into one-D pieces so they will more quickly deteriorate and become part of the organic layer of the soil. It’s also important to get them off the shrubs because the weight of the branches and the additional array acts to hold more snow on top the shrub, causing more trauma. Today it feels like snow isn’t that far away.

When it was warmer last week, the forsythia gave us a few flowers, and the roses are still making buds.

New blooms: forsythia.


Forsythia always pop open a few buds on a warm fall day after some cold weather.

We were 'down the shore' to visit friends in Seaside Park.

An immature Great Black-Backed Gull. The mature adults have a black, not brown, back and yellow beak.

Little States/Big States.

10-18-18 SHORT HILLS: At the beginning of the month, I thought October wanted to be August, but now I think she wants to be November. Today is windy and cold, but sunny for a change. The heat is on, and it’s time for the storm doors to replace the screens. Usually I do that at the end of October.

I was thinking about the Kavanaugh confirmation vote that the Yes votes won 50-48, as everyone remembers. I wondered how many people the yesses represented as compared to the noes. I looked up how each Senator voted, and what the population of each state is. If the Senators voted alike, I put the whole state population in the appropriate column. If they voted differently, I put half of the population figure on each list. I ignored the non-voting Senators. The Senators from 38 states voted together, while 12 states’ Senators split their votes.

The fifty Yes votes represented 142.97 million people, but the forty-eight No votes represented 180.98 million. As in the Electoral College, small states have more influence per capita than states with large populations.

New blooms: witch-hazel.


Witch-hazel is a delicate little flower with four ribbon-like petal and four stamens in the center. This one in NJ is just like the one that I showed a few weeks ago from VT. At the beginning of the growing season, VT lags behind NJ, but by the end VT is ahead. The plants know what to do. They learn from photo-period and/or temperature changes.

Witch-hazel back lit by the afternoon sun.

This is a real sign for a real Congressional candidate. At first I thought it was a joke. He, first name Richard, is running, not as a Dem. or Rep. or Lib., but as a fourth candidate, apparently without a party affiliation. The list of possible wisecracks if virtually endless, make up your own.

More Rain.

10-13-18 SHORT HILLS: The remnant of Hurricane Michael went through yesterday and gave us 1.5 inches of rain and gusty winds, maybe up to 20 or 25 mph, nothing compared to what the Florida panhandle got. I spent the day after picking up branches, mostly deadfall that had been hanging in the trees, and composting them.

Today it’s back to cool and rainy, our usual pattern of late. Doors and cabinets are swollen and hard to open, the flagstones are muddy and slippery, the ash trees have given up almost all their leaves.

New blooms: Dracaena compacta.


Siobhan sent this one from California. It was on the bathroom floor. Not a worry in NJ or VT.

Rainy rose on the new Rosa rugosa in NJ.

One of the indoor plants has bloomed. I don't know its name, and I don't think it ever bloomed before. I just used a new app, PlantSnap, and it might be Dracaena compacta, dragon plant.

The Color of the Day is Drizzle.

10-8-18 VERMONT: Today was cold and wet, dark and dank, overcast and rainy. It was an inside by the fire day. Sam and Lily left early this morning because Sam had a class to teach this afternoon.

Last night we ate at Stone Soup and Shari and Dave joined us.

The feeder has gotten progressively busier for the week we’ve been here. Four blue jays have intimidated most of the other birds, but not the chickadees. A few days ago I saw a bump on top of a dead pine tree in the distance, and a telephoto shot showed two flickers.

New blooms: cimicfuga [about to open].


White-crowned sparrow among many mobbing the feeder.

A pair of northern flickers, but neither one is showing the red spot on the back of the head.

Aster, a late bloomer.

Witch-hazel, almost the last bloom.

Today was not a day for color. It was foggy, drizzling, dark and overcast.

A cardinal only showed up at the end of the season, but he must have summered nearby.

White-throated sparrow often has the yellow patch in front of the eye.

Leaf Season II.

9-7-18 VERMONT: We had one day of sunshine amongst all the cloudy, rainy weather and decided to drive north to Peacham and Joe’s Pond in Danville. We took back roads, had little traffic, took many pix and saw increasingly better color. In Caledonia county the color was vivid and at peak.

Peacham, VT is a small town on a hilltop filled with maple trees. The population is about 700, but there are way more folks in the cemetery. The views from the cemetery look out at distant mountains and valleys, all painted red and orange.

We went on to Danville and Joe’s Pond where we stopped for ice cream cones at the general store. We came back on I-91.

Otherwise, I have done a few chores, pulling plant supports and hardware out of the gardens and a little weeding. Brady the horse blundered through the barrier around the new pasture and left a few hoof prints, but did no damage. We lead him back to the other side with carrots.

New blooms: witch-hazel.


I call this high drama.

I think this one was from Bradford, VT.

Brady the horse seems unmoved by the color.

Topsham, VT.

Near Peacham, VT.

Peacham.

Peacham cemetery has amazing views.

Maple Tree Lane, Peacham.

Leaf Season.

10-3-18 VERMONT: We drove north on Tuesday and hit rain in Massachusetts that followed us all the way up. It was warm and sunny in NJ when we left, but rainy and cold here. Today the rain is gone, but it was dark and overcast all day and in the fifties.

We ran a bunch of errands that took us to Sharon, Pomfret and Woodstock and then to Quechee and Hanover. The fall color should be good in a few days, especially if the sun comes out. Actually the color in our pasture was as good as anything we saw on the drive. The new grass in the pasture is doing well. One spot will need some extra seed that I hope to get tomorrow on our way to an auction preview.

On the drive we saw turkeys, cows, sheep and lots of peepers in Woodstock.

In the gardens things have that end of the season sprawl. Lots of the plants still have a few straggler blooms, but the late flowers are almost all out. I’m still waiting for cimicfuga and witch-hazel.

New blooms: toad lily, chrysanthemum, red aster, bottle gentian, chocolate snakeroot, monkshood.


This Heliopsis, also called 'oxeye', was eaten to the ground by something in mid-summer, but re-grew and re-bloomed. I hope it survives the winter.

the Bushnell game cam caught a flock of turkeys in the woods.

It is fall, and the color is just developing, but the dark sky doesn't help.

This little late bloomer is a toad lily, the plant is covered with dozens of odd flowers like this one.

This would look great in the sun.

And so would this. Maybe tomorrow.

A stag posing for the Moultrie cam early in the AM. When we see deer, the tail is usually held up and they're running away.