Aloha Dear Ones,
Again I notice that time has slipped past and a new season has crept up into the early mornings . It's welcome , even though we had no real summer heat (we're having our hottest days right now, a few days after the fall equinox ). My tomatoes are slowly ripening, the beans have been producing well for a few weeks and the Juncos have come back to feed on the nyjer seed scattered on the ground by the piggy sparrows feeding at the tube feeder hanging outside , under a wooden trellis, directly visible through my dining room window.
The Dark Eyed Juncos are an elegant bird bird in my eyes. Not fancy, not loud, but beautifully dressed in chestnut brown, black and grays- dressed for the season, with a loose, musical trill, and a "snack"sound as it's call. They're ground feeders, and now, since our alpha cat has gone on past his allotted 9 lives and into kitty heaven, have safe occupation of the deck and shelf on the trellis. The mornings are filled with various bird calls and the whoosh of the occasional car passing . Early in the morning the cows parade by, stopping for a while to peruse the fence line for whatever green thing that can be eaten- and they eat anything green!
It is so peaceful that I forget my past busy weeks, chauffeuring folks to hotels, winery s, and airports. It's been hectic , minimal hours of sleep at times, delayed flights, canceled runs, and stressed drivers. It seems like months ago that I watched, with my wife and son, a pair of red tailed hawks trying to drive a pair of golden eagles from their territory (they couldn't) on the hill behind the house. But with the fall comes quieter times, fewer runs, and a return to the snug inside of our little Nicasio home, fire burning in the fire place, the spectacular show the fall skies put on- box car sized cumulus clouds , the high, wispy cirrus- "mares tails", and the "bed sheets"-cirrostratus clouds that can hint at rain.
The heritage apples are almost ready. Our few remaining Japanese pumpkins (gophers) are as orange as they will get- turned into curry in a black, earthenware pot that will bake slowly in the oven. Then we'll harvest the tomatoes- regardless of color- and clean up and tend the kale and chard, plant some garlic, and hunker down for winter.
We'll have the birds migrating. The crows are gathering , and soon the starlings will be collecting in trees, making more noise than I like hearing, before they head off to plague some other locale. The gray whales will start appearing off the Point Reyes lighthouse on their way back to Mexican waters. Fall.
Enjoy the seasons change. Stop and look out into the sky and be entertained. Take the wool sweaters out of storage and stock up on good red wine. Find a good book and sit outside to read it. Relocate your umbrella. Write a letter; a real letter, and if you can, walk to the post office, buy a stamp from a real postal clerk, and mail it . You will feel better for the effort and the recipient of your letter will be tickled. Roast something. A pumpkin, a turkey, a leg of lamb. Put plenty of garlic on and in it. Garlic is goodness. String the herbs you've grown in your garden and hang them in the kitchen within easy reach. You have grown herbs, haven't you? You do have a garden. Or some large terra cotta pots with cherry tomatoes or basil-right? If not, this is your hint for the coming year- grow things. It's good for your karma; and the planet. Have some friends over for dinner and plan an outing in December. Have at least one morning a week when you can stay in bed and extra hour and talk to your sweetie. If your sweetie isn't there, talk to the birds outside your window. Then, breathe deep and get on with the day.
Much Love
