September 5, 2016
6 A. M. —To Hill.
The sun is rising directly over the eastern (magnetic east) end of the street. Not yet the equinox.
A very pretty effect held over the forest floor, beautiful in their decay. See August 19, 1856 ("Now for spotted aralia leaves, brown pupils with yellow iris amid the green. "); September 20, 1857 ("The early decaying and variegated spotted leaves of the Aralia nudicaulis , , , are very noticeable and interesting in our woods in early autumn, now and for some time. For more than a month it has been changing.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis)
The sessile-leaved bellwort [Uvularia sessilifolia] See A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Bellworts
Large Solomon’s-seal berries have begun to be red. See September 1, 1856 ("The very dense clusters of the smilacina berries, finely purple-dotted on a pearly ground, are very interesting . . .turned red, clear semilucent red. They have a pleasant sweetish taste."); September 11, 1859 (" The large clusters of the Smilacina racemosa berries, four or five inches long, of whitish berries a little smaller than a pea, finely marked and dotted with vermilion or bright red, are very conspicuous.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, False Solomon's Seal
In the afternoon, to the Hollowell place via Hubbard Bath, crossing the river.
A very warm day, one of the warmest of the year. The water is again warmer than I should have believed; say an average summer warmth, yet not so warm as it has been. It makes me the more surprised that only that day and a half of rain should have made it so very cold when I last bathed here.
The sarsaparilla leaves, green or reddish, are spotted with yellow eyes centred with reddish, or dull-reddish eyes with yellow iris. They have a very pretty effect held over the forest floor, beautiful in their decay.
9 P. M. — There is now approaching from the west one of the heaviest thunder-showers (apparently) and with the most incessant flashes that I remember to have seen. It must be twenty miles off, at least. for I can hardly hear the thunder at all. The almost incessant flashes reveal the form of the cloud, at least the upper and lower edge of it, but it stretches north and south along the horizon further than we see. Every minute I see the crinkled lightning, intensely bright, dart to earth or forkedly along the cloud.
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 6, 1854
The water is again warmer than I should have believed . . . It makes me the more surprised that only that day and a half of rain should have made it so very cold when I last bathed here. See September 2, 1854 ("Bathe at Hubbard’s. The water is surprisingly cold on account of the cool weather and rain, but especially since the rain of yesterday morning. It is a very important and remarkable autumnal change. It will not be warm again probably"); September 5, 1854 ("Bathe at the swamp white oak, the water again warmer than I expected. I see much thistle-down without the seed floating on the river and a hummingbird about a cardinal-flower over the water’s edge."); September 12, 1854 ("Bathing I find it colder again than on the 2d, so that I stay in but a moment. I fear that it will not again be warm."); September 24, 1854 ("The water begins to be clear of weeds, and the fishes are exposed. It is now too cold to bathe with comfort.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Luxury of Bathing
The cinnamon ferns along the edge of woods next the meadow are many yellow or cinnamon, or quite brown and withered. See September 12, 1858 (" The cinnamon fern has begun to yellow and wither. How rich in its decay!"); September 25, 1859 ("The sober brown colors of those ferns are in harmony with the twilight of the swamp.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Cinnamon Fern
The cinnamon ferns along the edge of woods next the meadow are many yellow or cinnamon, or quite brown and withered.
The sessile-leaved bellwort is yellow, green, and brown, all together or separately.
Some white oak leaves are covered with dull-yellow spots.
I think I may say that large Solomon’s-seal berries have begun to be red.
9 P. M. — There is now approaching from the west one of the heaviest thunder-showers (apparently) and with the most incessant flashes that I remember to have seen. It must be twenty miles off, at least. for I can hardly hear the thunder at all. The almost incessant flashes reveal the form of the cloud, at least the upper and lower edge of it, but it stretches north and south along the horizon further than we see. Every minute I see the crinkled lightning, intensely bright, dart to earth or forkedly along the cloud.
The flashes are, in fact, incessant for an hour or more, though lighting up different parts of the horizon,— now the edges of the cloud, now far along the horizon, —showing a clearer golden space beneath the cloud where rain is falling, through which stream tortuously to earth the brilliant bolts. We feel the rush of the cool wind while the thunder is yet scarcely audible.
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 6, 1854
A very pretty effect held over the forest floor, beautiful in their decay. See August 19, 1856 ("Now for spotted aralia leaves, brown pupils with yellow iris amid the green. "); September 20, 1857 ("The early decaying and variegated spotted leaves of the Aralia nudicaulis , , , are very noticeable and interesting in our woods in early autumn, now and for some time. For more than a month it has been changing.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis)
Large Solomon’s-seal berries have begun to be red. See September 1, 1856 ("The very dense clusters of the smilacina berries, finely purple-dotted on a pearly ground, are very interesting . . .turned red, clear semilucent red. They have a pleasant sweetish taste."); September 11, 1859 (" The large clusters of the Smilacina racemosa berries, four or five inches long, of whitish berries a little smaller than a pea, finely marked and dotted with vermilion or bright red, are very conspicuous.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, False Solomon's Seal
Approaching from the west one of the heaviest thunder-showers (apparently) and with the most incessant flashes that I remember to have seen. See August 31, 1859 ("A thunder-cloud, . . . advancing rapidly across the sky . . . like an immense steamer holding its steady way to its port, with tremendous mutterings from time to time, a rush of cooler air, and hurried flight of birds") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Lightning
Incessant flashes
lighting the edge of the cloud –
a rush of cool wind.
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Cinnamon ferns along the edge of woods
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
https://tinyurl.com/HDT9-6-1854
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