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The worship coordinators for Meeting this month observed the Armistice anniversary in a manner i found surprisingly moving. Intellectually, i appreciated how the young teacher (son and grandson of the one of the stalwart families of Meeting) spoke about how propaganda changed during WW I, illustrated with British recruiting posters. The posters transitioned from high minded appeals (albeit still manipulative) to fear-focused othering of "the Hun." He tied this to the present with reference to discussions of "the caravan" and how dehumanizing or abstract the discussion is. (I'm suspect writers on the left assume readers know that people make up the caravan of migrants: that assumtion tends to be an Achilles heel in progressive discourse.) Emotionally, this sound recreation of the stilling of the guns on armistice day brought waves of grief: <ahref="https://codatocoda.bandcamp.com/album/iwm-ww1-armistice-interpretation">listen here and read about the simulation's basis in actual seismic recordings of the stilling of the guns. The teacher also sang and played the song about the horrors at Gallipoli, "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda."
Saturday featured a lovely lingering morning, much raking while Christine dug the holes for the Aunt Rachel and Johnson Keeper apple trees. All three apples are planted now. I moved the mulberries into the green house and found one had rooted to the ground through its pot. Oops. Despite gloves i earned a blister. After picking the last of the zinnas and a big bundle of tulsi in preparation for the first freeze, we went out to visit friends on the other side of Raleigh and had a pleasant time.
Sunday morning frost was apparent. By afternoon the zinnas and some other plants were black with frost burn, the tulsi melted. I continued raking, happily accumulating mulch. In transplanting a native grass from an area i am thickly mulching, i found a DeKay's Brownsnake, a rather small critter. Once i documented it, i put it under piles of leaves.
The fall color is passing quickly, the winds Saturday morning loosened lots of leaves. I'd estimate over 50% of the trees are bare at this point. The invasive autumn olive is still green: part of its advantage over the natives. Other trees are green or changing, but the trend is wintry. One of the trees i've noticed the past few weeks are the hickories: their leaves are a lovely clear gold-yellow. The native sweet gum, Liquidambar, doesn't have the coloration that the street tree selections have, but present a patchwork of reds and yellows and browns. Tulip poplar leaves turn yellow but are quickly black on the ground. I find myself wanting some fiery red sumac and brilliant sassafras. I'm pretty sure i'm going to have to shelter sassafras from deer.
Off to work....
Saturday featured a lovely lingering morning, much raking while Christine dug the holes for the Aunt Rachel and Johnson Keeper apple trees. All three apples are planted now. I moved the mulberries into the green house and found one had rooted to the ground through its pot. Oops. Despite gloves i earned a blister. After picking the last of the zinnas and a big bundle of tulsi in preparation for the first freeze, we went out to visit friends on the other side of Raleigh and had a pleasant time.
Sunday morning frost was apparent. By afternoon the zinnas and some other plants were black with frost burn, the tulsi melted. I continued raking, happily accumulating mulch. In transplanting a native grass from an area i am thickly mulching, i found a DeKay's Brownsnake, a rather small critter. Once i documented it, i put it under piles of leaves.
The fall color is passing quickly, the winds Saturday morning loosened lots of leaves. I'd estimate over 50% of the trees are bare at this point. The invasive autumn olive is still green: part of its advantage over the natives. Other trees are green or changing, but the trend is wintry. One of the trees i've noticed the past few weeks are the hickories: their leaves are a lovely clear gold-yellow. The native sweet gum, Liquidambar, doesn't have the coloration that the street tree selections have, but present a patchwork of reds and yellows and browns. Tulip poplar leaves turn yellow but are quickly black on the ground. I find myself wanting some fiery red sumac and brilliant sassafras. I'm pretty sure i'm going to have to shelter sassafras from deer.
Off to work....
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Ah, the fall leaves. I noticed on driving to work Friday that ours were close to peak, or a peak, and very pleasing. Sadly I can't see them in the evening because it's already dark.
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I assume you had the same gloomy week where you are as we did with the overcast and wet (or snow where you are?) weather. So glad to see the sun yesterday!
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