November super moon

All day I have been disoriented. One thread of myself not following the other.

The weather report says
“Cloudy skies. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low near 35F. Winds light and variable.”

But they didn’t mention that the full moon tonight is the closest moon to rise in almost 69 years. In fact, the full moon won’t come this close to Earth again until Nov. 25, 2034.

All I know is that my Saga Chrysanthemums have finally bloomed.

Things That Lose by Being Painted

Sei Shonagon in The Pillow Book has a short list for Things That Lose by Being Painted: “Pinks, cherry blossoms, yellow roses. Men or women who are praised in romances as being beautiful.”

I was invited to a Beethovan string quartet concert at the surviving A.J. Davis Hudson River villa, the Dr. Oliver Bronson House in Hudson, NY. A.J. Davis was one of America’s greatest architects and the house is fantastic. The bones are all there and it’s being restored, but right now it’s a beautiful place with it’s peeling paint and marvelous hundred year old wall paper.

Things that just keep passing by

Sei Shonagon lists “Things that just keep passing by: A boat with its sail up. People’s age. Spring. Summer. Autumn. Winter.”

This autumn there are some very cool days and one thinks about changing clothes to wools and long sleeved flannel shirts. But then the very next day the temperature soars into the 70s and there is renewed hope that the summer will linger forever though signs in the garden tell us winter is quickly approaching.

Sunsets and sunrises are lavish with color. Pale pinks and oranges flood the sky. Trees and shrubs wear a brocade of woven hue: reds, oranges, pale green, and brown. Ferns and grasses spell the end of the year, dahlias and salvias throw out the best of the season. It is truly a splendid time.

It is delightful when there has been a dawn rain

It is delightful when there has been a dawn rain shower and then when the early morning sun comes out drops of water on the leaves sparkle like millions of diamonds.

I suddenly looked around

It’s late September and yesterday was the first day of autumn – officially. The days have been getting colder but I’ve been more concerned about the drought we’re in and the new plants I need to keep watered to notice much else.

But today I drove to town and everything seems to have changed. Even the most ordinary things are beautiful:  farm fields, newly harvested squash, an old rusty fence.