Yesterday morning, my phone was predicting snow flurries. With temperatures far above freezing, I knew this was inaccurate.
Late last night we were promised that snow would taper off soon.
Seemingly, my phone had re-oriented itself to some other Cambridge.
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Wondering where my navigator might think it was, I opened up Maps and received photographic updates about the town where I live.
Important items such as where to get a good breakfast or an ice cream cone. I think the latter is out-of-date as ice cream is off after Labor Day here.
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Far from having snow in our forecast, we are enjoying another burst of Indian Summer with temperatures around 62F/17C topping out at 71F/20C on Saturday.
Then next week a plunge. Maybe.
However, cold weather has benefits…
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Happily reading in my bed the other night, I suddenly perceived a black thing atop my book.
Being focussed on reading rather than identifying wildlife, Brain side-stepped Common Sense and went to SPIDER.
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Now, I have made commendable progress with that phobia, but I am not yet agreeable to sharing my reading material with an arachnoid.
I therefore flicked the thing off.
Whereupon Brain furnished me with an additional helpful thought:
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“Oh No! Now it’s somewhere on the bed. It will crawl on me and I will die!”
Extricating myself from the sheets, I scrutinized the blanket, an unhelpful shade of dark brown.
Of course, there was no spider to be found.
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My book was calling me back and as I read, Common Sense inserted thoughts between the lines:
“It couldn’t be a spider because how would it arrive in that manner?”
(We have lots of spiders but not on the ceiling above my bed.)
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Accepting that this was probably so, I asked myself, then what was it?
The answer promptly provided by the first of some dozen dive-bombing runs of an out-of-season FLY.
A large one.
You may recall my feelings about them.
They haven’t changed.
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Every time I retire my fly-trapping device, I have to fetch it back out again.
It’s nearly November!
It’s not just flies hanging around, either. I was assaulted the other day by a *mosquito which left me with a row of large welts.
*Indoors, no less.
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Fortunately, I do not have an aversion to ladybirds because this is their time to be out and about, doing their thing.
Reportedly, their current thing is to find a warm place for the winter. Indoors.
They are welcome but I wish they would not place themselves where they are likely to be stepped on.
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I rather like the feeling of tiny beetle feet on a finger even though they sometimes bite.
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This day ended with another rainbow, but damp conditions continued overnight to bring us a misty morning…
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Fall, the wet look.
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This tree is a beacon, standing out in all its glory, whatever the weather.
The day remained sombre throughout.
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Late sun on the 23rd lit up the birches.
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And the tidy property opposite!
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Grant standing in the doorway seems to give the illusion that we live in a toy house.
But it’s big enough for us.
We have the pleasure of the clock change this weekend, and you the week after. Something to mess up our body clocks again. Try giving the cats advance notice!
I’ve told them, but they just shrug and say “So?”
Thank you, Carolyn, for the Indian Summer musing, and of course, your extraordinary pictures. Perhaps, Grant, could make a cosy hotel for the ladybirds from bits of bamboo sticks inserted into a box, with the one side showing rows of the open bamboo tunnels. They will crawl in and sleep happily. Mine do!
Joanna
Good idea. I’ll see what we can come up with. It has to be out of the reach of nosy cats!
I think, Carolyn, that you can see the model on Google, if you ask for the insect hotel.
Joanna
We have also been bothered by ‘late flies’ recently, and a sleepy wasp buzzing around in the office room that I promptly killed. (I am allergic to wasp stings) Then on Sunday, I was bitten on the leg by a mosqito while watching TV. It was later seen flying around, but has so far avoided all attempts to kill it.
We have no Indian Summer remaining, just gloom, rain, and cold/damp. It already feels like winter, and we have had the heating on for the past week.
Best wishes, Pete.
The fly that was dive-bombing is still around. It is very large and buzzes. It came back last night and landed on my book again. This time I looked at it and asked “What?” It’s mad, I know, but I’ve got it in my head that it’s an old adversary come back to hound me. This fly goes to ground during the day and at night I’m not getting out of bed to deal with it, so I’m trying to ignore it.
The weather forecast on your phone was definitely not a reflection on our Cambridge here in SA – the sun was shining 🙂. That photo with the different coloured trees bundled together is incredibly beautiful. I do think that Autumn in your part of the world is just as beautiful as it was last year (just in a different way).
Your photos of autumn colors are beautiful. Here in Finland all insects are gone as the weather has cooled down. In Lapland is -20 C and 30 cm snow!