P.M. — Via Turnpike to Smith's Hill.
August 4, 2023
A still, cloudy day with from time to time a gentle August rain. Rain and mist contract our horizon and we notice near and small objects.
Purple gerardia, by brook.
The autumnal dandelion is now more common.
Ranunculus aquatilis var. fluviatilis, white petals with a yellow claw, small flowers on surface of Hosmer's ditch, west end, by Turnpike. A new plant.
The swamp blackberry on high land, ripe a day or two.
I hear the pigeon woodpecker still, — wickoff, wickoff, wickoff, wickoff. See August 14, 1858 ("The flicker‘s cackle, once of late."); October 5, 1857 ("The pigeon woodpecker utters his whimsical ah-week ah-week, etc., as in spring.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Pigeon Woodpecker (flicker)
See a late rose still in flower. See July 23, 1860 ("The late rose is now in prime along the river, a pale rose-color but very delicate, keeping up the memory of roses.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Wild Rose
It is already fall in low swampy woods where the cinnamon fern prevails. See September 6, 1854 ("The cinnamon ferns along the edge of woods next the meadow are many yellow or cinnamon, or quite brown and withered.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Cinnamon Fern
The swamp blackberry on high land, ripe a day or two.
I hear the pigeon woodpecker still, — wickoff, wickoff, wickoff, wickoff, from a neighboring oak.
See a late rose still in flower.
On this hill (Smith's) the bushes are black with huckleberries. They droop over the rocks with the weight and are very handsome. Now in their prime. Some glossy black, some dull black, some blue; and patches of Vaccinium vacillans intermixed.
It is already fall in low swampy woods where the cinnamon fern prevails. There are the sight and scent of beginning decay.
On this hill (Smith's) the bushes are black with huckleberries. They droop over the rocks with the weight and are very handsome. Now in their prime. Some glossy black, some dull black, some blue; and patches of Vaccinium vacillans intermixed.
It is already fall in low swampy woods where the cinnamon fern prevails. There are the sight and scent of beginning decay.
I see a new growth on oak sprouts, three to six inches, with reddish leaves as in spring. Some whole trees show the lighter new growth at a distance, above the dark green.
Cannabis sativa.
After sunset, a very low, thick, and flat white fog like a napkin, on the meadows, which ushers in a foggy night.
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, August 4, 1854
A gentle August rain. Rain and mist contract our horizon. See August 4, 1852 ("A pleasant time to behold a small lake in the woods is in the intervals of a gentle rain-storm at this season,. . . as the atmosphere is so shallow and contracted, being low-roofed with clouds, the lake as a lower heaven is much larger in proportion to it.”)
The autumnal dandelion is now more common. See July 27, 1853 ("The autumnal dandelion now appears more abundantly within a week"); August 24, 1852 ("Autumnal dandelions are more common now. ") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Autumnal Dandelion
The swamp blackberry on high land, ripe a day or two. See August 6, 1856 (“Rubus hispidus ripe.”); August 15, 1852 ("The swamp blackberry begins.”); August 23, 1856 (“ At the Lincoln bound hollow, Walden, there is a dense bed of the Rubus hispidus, matting the ground seven or eight inches deep, and full of the small black fruit, now in its prime. It is especially abundant where the vines lie over a stump. Has a peculiar, hardly agreeable acid.”)
After sunset, a very low, thick, and flat white fog like a napkin, on the meadows, which ushers in a foggy night.
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, August 4, 1854
A gentle August rain. Rain and mist contract our horizon. See August 4, 1852 ("A pleasant time to behold a small lake in the woods is in the intervals of a gentle rain-storm at this season,. . . as the atmosphere is so shallow and contracted, being low-roofed with clouds, the lake as a lower heaven is much larger in proportion to it.”)
Purple gerardia, by brook. See August 20, 1852 ("The purple gerardia is very beautiful now in green grass.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Purple Gerardia (Gerardia purpurea)
I hear the pigeon woodpecker still, — wickoff, wickoff, wickoff, wickoff. See August 14, 1858 ("The flicker‘s cackle, once of late."); October 5, 1857 ("The pigeon woodpecker utters his whimsical ah-week ah-week, etc., as in spring.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Pigeon Woodpecker (flicker)
The bushes are black with huckleberries . . . in their prime. Some glossy black, some dull black, some blue; and patches of Vaccinium vacillans intermixed. See August 4, 1852 “Most huckleberries and blueberries and low blackberries are in their prime now.”); August 4. 1856 (" large blue and also shining black huckleberries (Gaylussacia resinosa) of various flavors and qualities; and over all runs rampant the low blackberry (Rubus Canadensis), weighing down the thicket with its wreaths of black fruit. . . .This favorable moist weather has expanded some of the huckleberries to the size of bullets.") See also The Whortleberry Family
I see a new growth on oak sprouts. See July 14, 1852 ("Trees have commonly two growths in the year, a spring and a fall growth . . .These two growths are now visible on the oak sprouts, the second already nearly equalling the first.")
Low, thick, and flat white fog like a napkin, on the meadows, which ushers in a foggy night. See August 7, 1860 (" I am struck by the localness of the fogs. . . If we awake into a fog it does not occur to us that the inhabitants of a neighboring town may have none.")
August rain and mist
contract our horizon
to the near and small.
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, August rain and mist
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau
"A book, each page written in its own season,
out-of-doors, in its own locality.”
~ edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx © 2009-2024
tinyurl.com/HDT-540805
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