October in Vermont

Below are excerpts from Ellen’s journal. She has kept her Walden Hill Journal going since we moved from Illinois. We hope you enjoy reading them for a vicarious experience of Vermont.

Oct. 1, 2005 A gentle, pastel sunrise greets the day. Wispy clouds in the east illuminate the first rays of the sun. Morning mist hugs the mountains, creating a picture perfect serigraph. Spots of fall color, with gray mist turning pink, complete the view. It was a gorgeous day for Danville’s 3rd annual “Autumn on the Green”. Participating vendors overflowed onto both greens with a barbecue “cook-off” filling the air with mouthwatering smells. The Artists’ Symposium from our sister city in Danville, Quebec brought a display of artwork and also information about the area. Two artists came as well, one to demonstrate her wood carving of beautiful roosters and another to display her whimsically illustrated journals. I treated myself to an oversized spiraled journal with etched and painted yellow flowers on the cover. It was fun greeting our new and old friends from Quebec and just an all-out great event. People turned out en masse to enjoy a beautiful fall day. Food vendors and crafts people offered a fun variety for shoppers of all ages, while entertainment from the bandstand kept the crowd in a festive mood.

Oct. 3, 2005 A warm and sunny fall day. Color is finally picking up in the hills. We spent the morning in our woods having some downed trees sawed up to add to our winter firewood. We have three small stacks usable for this season and one that needs to dry for use next year. Eagle-eyed Jim spotted an osprey as we were heading back down the road. Fortunately the graceful, large bird made several passes overhead for good viewing. As we were relaxing on the swing afterwards, enjoying some refreshing cranberry spritzers and the view, we were serenaded by the call of a raven. Then tonight as Jean and I were driving up Walden Hill Road, we got a brief nighttime glimpse of an owl flying overhead. The night was so mild and the stars so clear that I spent some more time lying down on the swing, enjoying the night sky. The milky way is arcing in a more east to west direction now, rather than its north-south path across the house in the summer sky. The Pleiades have returned to the 10:00 sky. A gentle breeze was rustling the leaves. What a treat to be out on such a mild night without those pesky mosquitoes.

Oct. 6, 2005 Morning fog has grown thicker and moved further up the road. Two days ago, the mist obscured just the highest mountains. Yesterday all the mountains were gone and with them a good part of the valley. This morning I can barely see past the woodpile. It’ll be some time before the sun can burn off this very thick, soupy air. Just a ghostly hint of trees appear, then disappear in the mist. Near record-breaking temps have been the norm too, with readings in the high 70’s and in some parts of the state, low 80’s. The weekend forecast is for cooler air to move in and some heavy rain. Meanwhile, the foliage has burst forth with near peak color in the hills. We took a quick drive to Groton forest for a walk up to Owl’s Head and arrived just in time for a beautiful sunset over Groton Pond. A thin line of clouds helped emphasize the drama while the still waters of the pond reflected the color and majestic trees bordering the water. The familiar profile of Camels Hump added a perfect finishing focus to the grand view.

Oct. 8, 2005 Heavy rains have brought a good percentage of the leaves down to the ground, adding yet another bit of beauty along the road. Color is plentiful but not the usual full spectrum of purples to red, orange to gold and finally to yellow and bronze. It seemed like the leaves went from green to subdued orange, then quickly to a dried out yellow. My theory is that the poor sap run last March was indicative of a lower sugar content in the trees this year. Without that sugar, the bright orange of the maples was missing. Swamp maples were their usual deep red but sugar maples were not as colorful as past falls. It looks like fall conditions also affect the color. In a “Leaf Peeper’s Guide” it states, “The brilliant red of maples has a sweet side. In the warmth of fall days, sugar is produced in the leaves and then trapped by the nights’ chill. The more sugar that accumulates, the brighter red the leaves turn.” It also says, “When autumn is warm and rainy, leaves may have less red coloration.” And that is exactly what we’re experiencing now. The prize for richness and variety of color goes to the sumacs this year. A very intense clump is picturesquely situated by the old red farm house on the final crest of Walden Hill before reaching town. Jeff did his annual polishing of the stove today and we’ve lit our first fire of the season to cure the blacking with a slow burn. We’re also drying out the chimney a bit and taking out the chill of this damp and dreary day. Our first woodstove fire last year was on the evening of Oct. 10th, under similar weather conditions so it looks as though we’re right on target. Tobey the cat is reclaiming her spot on the stairs directly across from the woodstove.

Oct. 11, 2005 We’re getting a little bit of sunset color which is pretty amazing since we haven’t seen the sun for more than 5 minutes these past five days. It’s been rain, rain and more rain. Serious flooding has been a problem south of here in VT, MA and NH. It has that dreary November feel to it with somewhat warmer weather and a bit of fall color. There still hasn’t been a frost up here so the fall flowers, especially the dahlias, continue to bloom.

Oct. 16, 2005 It’s been a very soggy ten days with only one day of intermittent sunshine. Today we have the added caution of high wind advisories. The trees are being stripped of what little color they did possess. Our woodpile is totally saturated and will need several days of sunshine before we can think of bringing it in. We also still need a frost to let the wood shed any excess insects. Meanwhile the clock is ticking and those end-of-summer chores are only slowly being accomplished. Most of the garden is tilled and the ash cans have been emptied on our various lilac beds but many chores await the first frost and some dryer weather. The occasional woodstove fire helps dispel the gloom.

Oct. 20, 2005 It looks as though we might have had a light frost last night since the basil looked zapped this morning and there was a very light white coating on the porch and bare parts of the garden. We pulled the husk cherry plants and have them in the garage to see what of the “cherries” we can salvage. There’s supposed to be a hard frost tonight and tomorrow. In anticipation of the freeze, Jeff emptied the rain barrel and brought in the bird bath. He also cleaned out the 4 bird houses, 3 of which had very impressive nests. I’ve tilled the remainder of the garden except for the still edible row of chard and kale. After almost two weeks of rain, it was nice to see the sun and get a late start on our fall chores. Deer have been digging in the backyard again this year. I’m not sure why they paw the earth like that in the fall since there’s still plenty of grazing in the field. I wonder if it’s a mating ritual of some sort. The setting sun is highlighting the light snow cover on the highest peaks of the White Mountains.

Oct. 21, 2005 A thick coating of frost, bright blue sky and morning sun; now that looks more like October. Our first hard freeze last year was Oct. 19th so we appear to be right on schedule. Our first touch of light frost however held off, extending the season for the more sensitive plants this year. It was especially nice to give the kale more time to grow since it got a later start than I anticipated. It should be just right for harvesting now. We’ll probably get a little more from the remaining chard too.

Oct. 23, 2005 I was wondering why it seemed so quiet this morning. One quick look out the window answered my question. A very wet snow covers the ground and continues to fall. In just 3 days we went from not even a light frost to two nights of hard frost and now snow. A few of the maples retain their orange leaves and have that strange fall-snow look while evergreens are heavily laden, giving a very wintery feel. April 13th is my last 2005 indication of “just a hint of snow flurries this morning”. That actually gave us a full six months of snow-free days, but we’ve certainly had an abundance of rain, making 2005 the wettest October in history.

Oct. 26, 2005 10 inches of very heavy, wet, wet snow has plastered down the trees. All 4 shads are bowed down to the ground. The good news is that our snowthrower was readied for the season and returned home a few days ago, thanks to the foresight of our transporting neighbor, Dan. The bad news is that we don’t have the snow tires on our car yet so only made it as far as Kittredge Road last night. We parked in the neighbor’s drive and walked the rest of the way home. We had been working in St. Jay where the precip was merely textured rain so were very surprised as we headed home up Route 2. Evidently the snow had been sticking since early afternoon because by 7 PM the traffic around Marty’s store was down to a crawl and Walden Hill was worse as the traffic had thinned out. The Sicards who live up above us, had come home earlier but only made it as far as our upper drive and left their car there. Town plows were out early this morning so once we clear the drive, we should be able to reclaim our car. This early snow dump is a combination of the moisture from Hurricane Wilma moving up the coast, a nor-easter blowing from Maine and snow moving across from the Dakotas. Hopefully we’ll be back down to bare ground by the end of the week. Meanwhile at least we have power, telephone and water unlike millions who are suffering their second hurricane devastation of the season.

Oct. 29, 2005 We’re finally seeing the sun but it never got much above 40° today so our snow cover remains. The White Mountains have donned their winter coats and are aglow in the pastel, pink sunset. A walk up Walden Hill Road showed that more snow was plastered on the trees at higher elevations. One dead trunk had snow spiraled around it like a soft serve ice cream cone. Changing bronze-colored beech leaves looked especially vibrant against the fresh snow. Deer had been out under the apple trees, searching for windfalls.

Oct. 30, 2005 The end of daylight savings time has pushed the 7:30 sunrise back to 6:30. The bright orange orb now rises just south of Mt. Washington in the sun’s slow southern journey. With all the dreary weather we’ve been having, I’ll welcome the sun no matter when or where it happens to rise. This whole month of October has looked and felt more like November with lack of sunshine, record amounts of rain and now a persistent early substantial snowfall. We’re just hoping for a few Indian summer days to bring in the wood and dig out the dahlia bulbs. For now I’ll have to dig under the snow if I want to harvest any kale. The tamaracks are losing their green but in place of the usual fiery candle glow there is just a pale brownish yellow. This final bit of color remains muted like much of what this fall has been.