ZtonePhruit: A Book of the Seasons: April 29 (the art of life, sailing, swallows, damdelions, red maples in flower, interrupted ferns, early leaf-out)

Friday, April 29, 2016

A Book of the Seasons: April 29 (the art of life, sailing, swallows, damdelions, red maples in flower, interrupted ferns, early leaf-out)

The year is but a succession of days,

and I see that I could assign some office to each day

which, summed up, would be the history of the year.

Henry Thoreau, August 24, 1852

April 29

A poet's life.

The art of life – not

having anything to do –

is to do something.

April 29, 1852

Mottled light and shade

seen looking into the woods

is more like summer.

April 29, 1852

April 29, 2012

Was awakened early this morning by thunder and some rain, — the second thunder-shower of the season. April 29, 1856

This morning it snows, but the ground is not yet whitened. This will probably take the cold out of the air. April 29, 1855

A little snow still lies in the road in one place, the relic of the snow of the 21st. April 29, 1857

The art of life, of a poet's life, is, not having anything to do, to do something. April 29, 1852

Discover a hawk over my head by his shadow on the ground. April 29, 1852

At mid forenoon saw a ﬁsh hawk ﬂying leisurely over the house northeasterly. April 29, 1856

It was quite warm when I ﬁrst came out, but about 3 P. M. I felt a fresh easterly wind, and saw quite a mist in the distance produced by it, a sea-turn. April 29, 1856

What an entertainment this river affords! . . . Let it rain heavily one whole day, and the river will be increased from half a dozen rods in width to nearly a mile in some places, and, where I walked dry-shod yesterday a-maying, I sail with a smacking breeze to-day, and fancy that I am a sailor on the ocean. April 29, 1854

The sun is in my face, and the waves look particularly lively and sparkling. I can steer and write at the same time. They gurgle under my stern, in haste to ﬁll the hollow which I have created. The waves seem to leap and roll like porpoises, with a slight surging sound when their crests break, and I feel an agreeable sense that I am swiftly gliding over and through them, bound on my own errands, while their motion is chieﬂy but an undulation, and an apparent one. April 29, 1856

It is pleasant, exhilarating, to feel the boat tossed up a little by them from time to time. . . . It is ﬂattering to a sense of power to make the wayward wind our horse and sit with our hand on the tiller. Sailing is much like ﬂying, and from the birth of our race men have been charmed by it. April 29, 1856

Off the Cliffs, I meet a blue heron flying slowly down stream. He flaps slowly and heavily, his long, level, straight and sharp bill projecting forward, then his keel-like neck doubled up, and finally his legs thrust out straight behind. He alights on a rock, and stands erect awhile. April 29, 1854

Paddling slowly along, I see ﬁve or six snipes within four or ﬁve rods, feeding on the meadow just laid bare, or in the shallow and grassy water. . . . At length they take a little alarm and rise with a sort of rippling whistle or peep, a little like a robin’s peep, but faint and soft, and then alight within a dozen rods. April 29, 1855

The barn swallows are very numerous, flying low over the water in the rain. April 29, 1854

Barn swallows and chimney, with white-bellied swallows, are ﬂying together over the river. April 29, 1856

I see a woodchuck . .. I see his shining black eyes and black snout and his little erect ears.

At the Second Division Brook the cowslip is in blossom. April 29, 1852

Viola ovata will open to-morrow. April 29, 1855

Dandelions out yesterday, at least. April 29, 185 5

First observe the dandelion well out in R. W. E.'s yard. April 29, 1859

At Tarbell's watering-place, see a dandelion, its conspicuous bright-yellow disk in the midst of a green space on the moist bank. It seems a sudden and decided progress in the season. April 29, 1857

Garfield's folks used them for greens . They grew in a springy place behind Brigham' s in the Corner. April 29, 1852

The mouse-ear is now fairly in blossom in many places. It never looks so pretty as now in an April rain, covered with pearly drops. April 29, 1854

How pretty a red maple in bloom (they are now in prime), seen in the sun against a pine wood, like these little ones in the swamp against the neighboring wood, they are so light and ethereal, not a heavy mass of color impeding the passage of the light, and they are of so cheerful and lively a color. April 29, 1856

Those red maples are reddest in which the fertile flowers prevail. April 29, 1859

Choke-cherry begins to leaf. April 29, 1855

Some young alders begin to leaf. April 29, 1855

Some birch sprouts in the swamp are leafed as much as any shrub or tree. April 29, 1856

Mountain-ash began to leaf, say yesterday. Makes a show with leaves alone before any tree. April 29, 1855

For two or three days the Salix alba, with its catkins (not yet open) and its young leaves, or bracts (?), has made quite a show, before any other tree, —a pyramid of tender yellowish green in the russet landscape. April 29, 1855

The white cedar now sheds pollen abundantly. . . .I strike a twig, and its peculiar pinkish pollen ﬁlls the air. April 29, 1856

A few of the cones within reach on F. Monroe’s larches shed pollen; say, then, yesterday. The crimson female ﬂowers are now handsome but small. April 29, 1855

J Monroe’s larch staminate buds have now erected and separated their anthers, and they look somewhat withered, as if they had shed a part of their pollen. If so, they began yesterday. April 29, 1856

Near the little larch, scared a small dark-brown hawk from an apple tree, which ﬂew off low to another apple tree beside Barrett’s Pond. Just before he ﬂew again I saw with my glass that his tail was barred with white. Must it not be a pigeon hawk then?. . . I think I have not described this white—barred hawk before. April 29, 1856.

I am surprised to see how some blackberry pastures and other fields are filling up with pines, . . . so that what was then a pasture is now a young wood-lot. April 29, 1857

On the pitch pines beyond John Hosmer's, I see old cones within two feet of the ground on the trunk, — sometimes a circle of them around it, — which must have been formed on the young tree some fifteen years ago. April 29, 1857

The scrolls of the interrupted fern are already four or ﬁve inches high. April 29, 1855

Interrupted fern scrolls there, four to five inches high. April 29, 1859

Sweet-fern at entrance of Ministerial Swamp. April 29, 1857

I heard yesterday at Ledum Swamp the lively, sweet, yet somewhat whimsical note of the ruby crowned wren, and had sight of him a moment. April 29, 1858

A partridge there drums incessantly. C. says it makes his heart beat with it, or he feels it in his breast. April 29, 1857

See and hear a black and white creeper. April 29, 1859

Purple finch sings on R. W. E.'s trees. April 29, 1857

Observe two thrushes arrived that I do not know. April 29, 1852

The pine warbler is heard very much now at mid day, when already most birds are quiet. It must be the female which has so much less yellow beneath. April 29, 1856

Many chip-birds are feeding in the yard, and one bay-wing. . . . It is rather better concealed by its color than the chip bird with its chestnut crown and light breast. April 29, 1855

A pigeon woodpecker alights on a dead cedar top near me. Its cackle, thus near, sounds like eh eh eh eh eh, etc., rapidly and emphatically repeated. April 29, 1856

A steel-blue-black flattish beetle, which, handled, imparted a very disagreeable carrion-like scent to fingers. April 29, 1857

The butterflies are now more numerous, red and blue-black or dark velvety. April 29, 1852

I see great devil’s-needles whiz by, coupled. April 29, 1856

Do not the toads ring most on a windy day like this? April 29, 1856

Noticed a man killing, on the sidewalk by Minott's, a little brown snake with blackish marks along each side of back and a pink belly. Was it not the Coluber amaenus? April 29, 185 8

The pines have an appearance they have not worn before, yet not easy to describe. The mottled sunlight and shade, seen looking into the woods, is more like summer. April 29, 1852

Coming home over the Corner road, the sun, now getting low, is reflected very bright and silvery from the water on the meadows, seen through the pines of Hubbard's Grove. April 29, 1852

April 29, 2012

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Spring Leaf-Out

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Earliest Flower

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Larch in Spring

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Alders

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Dandelion in Spring

A Book of Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Signs of the Spring: the Cowslip

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Sea-turn

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Ring of Toads

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Red Maple

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Chipping Sparrow

A Book of Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Osprey (Fish Hawk)

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The White-bellied Swallow

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The White Pines

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Black and White Creeper

The art of life, not having anything to do, is to do something. See September 8, 1858 ("It is good policy to be stirring about your affairs, for the reward of activity and energy is that if you do not accomplish the object you had professed to yourself, you do accomplish something else.”); December 29, 1841 ("One does not soon learn the trade of life. That one may work out a true life requires more art and delicate skill than any other work.") and note to September 7, 1851: ("I do not remember any page which will tell me how to spend this afternoon.”)

Discover a hawk over my head by his shadow on the ground. See September 27, 1857 ("I see the shadow of a hawk flying above and behind me.”)

J. Monroe’s larch staminate buds have now erected and separated their anthers. / April 29, 1855 ("A few of the cones within reach on F. Monroe’s larches shed pollen; say, then, yesterday. The crimson female ﬂowers are now handsome but small. See;April 23, 1855 ("The anthers of the larch are conspicuous, but I see no pollen. White cedar to-morrow.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Larch in Spring

At the Second Division Brook [o]bserve two thrushes arrived that I do not know. See note to April 24, 1856 ("Returning, in the low wood just this side the ﬁrst Second Division Brook, near the meadow, see a brown bird ﬂit, and behold my hermit thrush, with one companion, ﬂitting silently through the birches”)

The white cedar now sheds pollen abundantly. Probably it began as much as three days ago. I strike a twig, and its peculiar pinkish pollen ﬁlls the air. See April 26, 1857 ("The white cedar is apparently just out.") ; April 26, 1856 ("The white cedar gathered the 23d does not shed pollen in house till to-day, and I doubt if it will in swamp before to-morrow."); April 24, 1855 ("The [pollen] of the white cedar is very different, being a faint salmon.”);

Sailing is much like ﬂying, and from the birth of our race men have been charmed by it. See July 29, 1851 ("The sailboat is an admirable invention, by which you compel the wind to transport you even against itself. It is easier to guide than a horse; the slightest pressure on the tiller suffices. I think the inventor must have been greatly surprised, as well as delighted, at the success of his experiment.”)

See a dandelion, its conspicuous bright-yellow disk in the midst of a green space on the moist bank. / First observe the dandelion well out in R. W. E.'s yard See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Dandelion in Spring

I see a woodchuck on the side of Lupine Hill. See April 2, 1858 (“At Hubbard’s Grove I see a woodchuck. He waddles to his hole and then puts out his gray nose within thirty feet to reconnoitre.); April 30, 1855 (“The woodchuck has. . . exactly that peculiar rank scent which I perceive in a menagerie.”); April 12, 1855 (“For a week past I have frequently seen the tracks of woodchucks in the sand. ”); May 30, 1859 ("When I entered the interior meadow of Gowing's Swamp I heard a slight snort, and found that I had suddenly come upon a woodchuck")

C. says it makes his heart beat with it, or he feels it in his breast. See April 25, 1854 ("The first partridge drums in one or two places, as if the earth's pulse now beat audibly with the increased flow of life. It slightly flutters all Nature and makes her heart palpitate.”) See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Partridge

Heard yesterday at Ledum Swamp the lively, sweet, yet somewhat whimsical note of the ruby crowned wren. See April 25, 1854 (“A very interesting and active little fellow, darting about amid the tree-tops, and his song quite remarkable and rich and loud for his size. Begins with a very fine note, before its pipes are filled, not audible at a little distance, then woriter weter, etc., etc., winding up with teter teter, all clear and round. (His song is comical and reminds me of the thrasher.)”); May 6, 1855 ("Hear at a distance a ruby(?)-crowned wren, so robin-like and spirited. . . . I think this the only Regulus I have ever seen.”); April 30, 1857 (“Hear again the same bird heard at Conantum April 18th, which I think must be the ruby-crowned wren. ”); April 26, 1860 ("Hear the ruby-crowned wren in the morning, near George Heywood’s.”). See also note to April 20, 1859 ("My ruby-crowned or crested wren”) and A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau: the ruby-crowned or crested wren.

A man killing a little brown snake with blackish marks along each side of back and a pink belly. See October 11, 1856 (“I find a little snake which somebody has killed with his heel. It is apparently Coluber amaenus, the red snake. Brown above, light-red beneath, about eight inches long . . . It is a conspicuous light red beneath, then a bluish-gray line along the sides, and above this brown with a line of lighter or yellowish brown down the middle of the back. ”); September 9, 1857 ("On my way home, caught one of those little red bellied snakes in the road, where it was rather slugish, as usual. Saw another in the road a week or two ago. The whole length was eight inches. . .It was a dark ash-color above, with darker longitudinal lines, light brick-red beneath. There were three triangular buff spots just behind the head, one above and one each side. It is apparently Coluber amaenus”). See also April 26, 1857 ("I have the same objection to killing a snake that I have to the killing of any other animal, yet the most humane man that I know never omits to kill one.”). Compare April 22, 18 57 (“Near Tall's Island, rescue a little pale or yellowish brown snake that was coiled round a willow half a dozen rods from the shore and was apparently chilled by the cold. Was it not Storer's "little brown snake?”) ~ redbellied snake or worm snake or both?: Snakes of Massachusetts

Must it not be a pigeon hawk then? I think I have not described this white-barred hawk before. See April 27, 1860 ("Saw yesterday, and see to-day, a small hawk which I take to be a pigeon hawk. This one skims low along over Grindstone Meadow, close to the edge of the water, and I see the blackbirds rise hurriedly from the button bushes and willows before him. I am decided by his size (as well as color) and his low, level skimming.") See also A Book of the Seasons by Henry Thoreau, The Pigeon Hawk (Merlin)

See and hear a black and white creeper. See April 28, 1856 ("I hear to-day frequently the seezer seezer seezer of the black and white creeper, or what I have referred to that . . . It is not a note, nor a bird, to attract attention; only suggesting still warmer weather, —that the season has revolved so much further."); May 11, 1856("The black and white creeper also is descending the oaks, etc., and uttering from time to time his seeser seeser seeser. What a rich, strong striped blue-black (?) and white bird"); May 30, 1857 ("In the midst of the shower, though it was not raining very hard, a black and white creeper came and inspected the limbs of a tree before my rock, in his usual zigzag, prying way, head downward often, and when it thundered loudest, heeded it not.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Black and White Creeper

Interrupted fern scrolls there, four to five inches high. See April 30, 1858 ( I noticed one of the large scroll ferns, with its rusty wool, up eight inches on the 28th."); also May 12, 1858 ("The cinnamon and interrupted ferns are both about two feet high in some places.")

Those red maples are reddest in which the fertile flowers prevail./ How pretty a red maple in bloom (they are now in prime), seen in the sun against a pine wood See April 28, 1855 ("The red maples, now in bloom, are quite handsome at a distance over the ﬂooded meadow . . .. The abundant wholesome gray of the trunks and stems beneath surmounted by the red or scarlet crescents"). See also April 1, 1860 ("The red maple buds are considerably expanded, and no doubt make a greater impression of redness."); April 10, 1853 (''The male red maple buds now show eight or ten (ten counting everything) scales, alternately crosswise, and the pairs successively brighter red or scarlet, which will account for the gradual reddening of their tops. They are about ready to open."); April 13, 1854 ('The red maple in a day or two. I begin to see the anthers in some buds. So much more of the scales of the buds is now uncovered that the tops of the swamps at a distance are reddened."); April 26, 1859 ('The blossoms of the red maple . . . are now most generally conspicuous and handsome scarlet crescents over the swamps.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Red Maple