I know it’s going to get warm again soon, but for now I’m loving the sights and feel of autumn in the air. I bet you’re wondering what old witchgrass is, though.

This is a new plant discovery for me! Last week Rob was doing a little metal detecting and while he was making noises with the metal detector, I walked around looking at the plants in the area.

One struck me as interesting, because of the way the stems were thick and hairy. But then I noticed the spray of seed cluster filling the space between stem top and leaves. Third surprise was when I touched it to break off a piece to bring home for identification. Not exactly a comfortable sensation! Those hairy stems were bristly more than hairy.

Old Witch Grass, my interesting discovery of the day

The spray of seeds on the long filaments were stiff and felt like it had been coated with hairspray. So I found a spot farther down the stem to pick one and when I got back to signal I found out that this is called Old Witch Grass. The bristles didn’t hurt me, but only shocked and surprised me. These look like something that would be great to use in cut flower arrangements.

Once used in smudges for luck, love, and protection, this sounds like a plant I’d like to have around. Historically it also was used to induce vomiting. Not something I hope to put to medicinal use anytime soon, but good to know.

Autumn is in the Air

Every year at this time of year I notice when the light starts changing. It probably has something to do with the angle of the light changing, and it triggers something in me. Here’s Gloria with the late evening sun shining on her limbs and trunk:

You can see that some of the leaves in the sassafras on the left are beginning to turn red. We’ve had enough rain this fall so far to set up a really nice color season. I’m looking forward to that.

Now, if only the ragweed would quit blooming, I would enjoy being outdoors so much more. It’s the one thing I’m very allergic to and so I just stay away from it as much as possible.

More Autumnal Imagery

At first I thought that was a tiny feather on the dead leaf. But after closer inspection, I think it’s a tuft of milkweed fluff, or some other plant fluff. It was damp from a little rain we’d gotten the night before.

Turkeys

Every morning on Mondays and Fridays I go to the office. And every time lately there has been a gaggle of wild turkeys in one of the fields I pass on our road. They’re so far away that I can’t get a good photo. But they were watching me closely nonetheless, even from such a distance. Wary critters, they are.

Old Shed

I haven’t had any time lately to work on my painting. Looking at it every time I go into my office/studio fills me with a longing to get it done.

The Season of Introversion

This seasonal shift, while I absolutely love it, is also a time where I undergo a period of mental withdrawal. Or at least I wish to. Because I really can’t, it’s a tug-of-war between what I want and what I need to do.

Work and life requires me to stay somewhat social, and so I push through. But if left to my own devices I would retreat to the hills, creeks, & woods and not come out to society again until winter.

I’d wander, write, and paint perhaps. But mostly I’d flow with the whims of whatever I felt like doing… maybe just lie on the ground, turn over a swath of moldering leaves with my hands and breath in the scent of damp humus, and hope the ticks didn’t devour me. Like a long, hot bubble bath therapy, except a cool-weather, sight-feasting forest therapy instead. With ticks to worry about, lol.

There was a time when the ticks didn’t worry me. But now I have a sort of PTSD from my episode with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. It’s not like I wouldn’t recognize the symptoms in time this time, so I should just let that go and not worry so much. But it’s always there, lurking in the back of my mind to ruin my ignorantly blissful interactions with nature now.

Anyway, I’m still here. I’m not posting as often as I’d like to but hope to remedy that. However, I may continue to minimize my time on social media. Weaning off of it has been a goal for quite some time.