Readiness

0623/2nd September 2023

Lifting my curtain to this vision, I picked up my camera and went outside in my nightshirt and waded barefoot through the very long, wet grass.

Something caused me to turn my head and too late I realised there was a deer by the apple tree.

.

Sometimes, if you don’t look at them and just move away they don’t run off.

Maybe she didn’t flee immediately, but by the time I’d finished getting my feet bathed she had gone.

Almost without fail, I check before rushing out. For deer and for skunks.

.

It might not turn out well if I stumbled into one of these fluffy fellows. Their reaction would be to flee but the tail goes up and noxious emissions are sprayed to persuade you not to follow.

What is the range of skunk spray? I hope never to find out.

On this occasion, the tail was up in readiness, but the spray was withheld.

.

Skunks are easily distinguishable by their markings and size. The new visitor above left, is quite big but it had the appearance of having come from a blow-dry at a beauty salon.

Wet, they shrink.

.

Above is our tiny, frequent visitor. Even she looks bigger now she’s dried out.

.

This time of year, I must be ready for:

.

At the sink, not long after dawn, I heard another large flock approaching.

The camera had switched off but I got it activated only to realise the lens cover was on, so: tail-end.

Flocks of birds, another obsession!

.

It wasn’t so much a flock we saw the other day, as a mob. Of swallows.

Alright, a gulp or a flight.

To use precise definitions!

If you didn’t like birds you would gulp!

.

They were everywhere.

.

So much seems different this year. We have hardly ever seen a swallow here before, but it’s probably that we just haven’t happened along at the right moment.

There had been activity in the field so perhaps there were lots of displaced insects up for grabs.

The overhead power-lines a convenient perch for some between-courses (g)natters.

.

The preamble of Fall.

.

.

There is a very yellow tinge to the world at present.

.

Staghorn sumac panicles turning red.

.

Till I came here, I only knew of poison sumac. You really didn’t want to sit on it, I was told.

.

Somewhere out on the state route there must be a sign:

Peanut Cafe ahead

We turn no-one away.

.

Which has reminded me to post this designer insect.

.

.

As far as I know, there’s no such thing as a designer insect. I just thought its clothes were very smart.

Trawling through Google, I could not find its match. It may be some sort of hoverfly.

Unsurprisingly, some designers are influenced by the insect world.

.

The corn is now about 6 feet high.

It doesn’t half change the perspective!

.

Thursday was one of those stunningly beautiful days.

As we set off, the sun was at just the right angle to light a fence we frequently pass but I noticed the image too late.

Then I was on the lookout for fences…

.

What is it about lines that gets me?

.

They don’t need to straight.

Though I never pass up a railway line.

.

There’s something special about fences, though. It’s a matter of interpretation obviously, and a fence can represent many things.

Hmmm…

4 thoughts on “Readiness

  1. Thank you, Carolyn, for today’s philosophical musing on the inspiration of fences and lines in your life. And what kind of a philistine would not like birds?!

    Joanna

    1. A close friend of my mother was terrified of birds and could not be in the room if our pet budgie was about. She was a nature lover but she had a phobia about birds.

  2. Yellow means Autumn is on its way in your part of the world …I can’t wait to see how beautiful the trees will be! I love seeing bridge rails when we are travelling … oh yeah, and train tracks (or railway lines 🙂)!

Leave a Reply