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
Rain-storm in the night.
The first leaves begin to fall –
blown off by the wind.
August 29, 1852
How sudden a change
this clear cool autumnal air
in which all things shine.
Now the air is cool
genial nature provides
the warmth of the sun.
So cool a morning
that for the first time I move
to sit in the sun.
August 29, 1859
August 29, 2019
The first leaves begin to fall; a few yellow ones lie in the road this morning, loosened by the rain and blown off by the wind. The ground in orchards is covered with windfalls; imperfect fruits now fall. August 29, 1852
We saw where many cranberries had been frost-bitten, F. thinks the night of the 23d. They are much injured. August 29, 1858
It is so cool that we are inclined to stand round the kitchen fire. August 29, 1854
It is so cool a morning that for the first time I move into the entry to sit in the sun. August 29, 1859
I find a wasp in my window, which already appears to be taking refuge from winter and unspeakable fate. August 29, 1851
But in this cooler weather I feel as if the fruit of my summer were hardening and maturing a little, acquiring color and flavor like the corn and other fruits in the field. August 29, 1859
But in this cooler weather I feel as if the fruit of my summer were hardening and maturing a little, acquiring color and flavor like the corn and other fruits in the field. August 29, 1859
Might I not walk a little further, till I hear new crickets, till their creak has acquired some novelty, as if they were a new species whose habitat I had reached? August 29, 1851
It is a great pleasure to walk in this clearer atmosphere, though cooler. How great a change, and how sudden, from that sultry and remarkably hazy atmosphere to this clear, cool autumnal one, in which all things shine, and distance is restored to us! August 29, 1854
I enjoy the warmth of the sun now that the air is cool, and Nature seems really more genial. August 29, 1854
My mistress is at a more respectful distance, for, by the coolness of the air, I am more continent in my thought and held aloof from her, while by the genial warmth of the sun I am more than ever attracted to her. August 29, 1854
I hear this morning one eat it potter from a golden robin. They are now rarely seen. August 29, 1858
I hear this morning one eat it potter from a golden robin. They are now rarely seen. August 29, 1858
The cymes of elder-berries, black with fruit, are now conspicuous.
August 29, 1854
See the two-leaved Solomon's-seal berries, many of them ripe; also some ripe mitchella berries, contrasting with their very fresh green leaves. August 29, 1859
Elder-berry clusters swell and become heavy and therefore droop, bending the bushes down, just in proportion as they ripen. Hence you see the green cymes perfectly erect, the half-ripe drooping, and the perfectly ripe hanging straight down on the same bush. August 29, 1859
Many birds nowadays resort to the wild black cherry tree, as here front of Tarbell's. I see them continually coming and going directly from and to a great distance, — cherry birds, robins, and kingbirds. August 29, 1854
I hear in the street this morning a goldfinch sing part of a sweet strain. August 29, 1859
I see more snakes of late, methinks, both striped and the small green. August 29, 1859
I find that the water-bugs (Gyrinus) keep amid the pads in open spaces along the sides of the river all day, and, at dark only, spread thence all over the river and gyrate rapidly. August 29, 1859
At Clamshell Bank the barn swallows are very lively, filling the air with their twittering now, at 6 p.m. They rest on the dry mullein-tops, then suddenly all start off together as with one impulse and skim about over the river, hill, and meadow. Some sit on the bare twigs of a dead apple tree. Are they not gathering for their migration? August 29, 1854
Returning, rather late afternoon, we saw some forty martins sitting in a row and twittering on the ridge of his old house, apparently preparing to migrate. August 29, 1858
An apparent white vervain with bluish flowers, as blue as bluets even or more so, roadside beyond Farmer's barn. August 29, 1856
The Helianthus decapetalus, apparently a variety, with eight petals, about three feet high, leaves petioled, but not wing-petioled, and broader-leaved than that of August 12th, quite ovate with a tapering point, with ciliate petioles, thin but quite rough beneath and above, stem purple and smoothish. August 29, 1856
The Assabet helianthus (apparently variety of decapetalus), well out some days at least. Are not the petals peculiarly reflexed? August 29, 1858
Gerardia glauca (quercifolia, says one), tall gerardia, one flower only left; also Corydalis glauca. August 29, 1851
Gerardia tenuifolia, a new plant to Concord, apparently in prime, at entrance to Owl-Nest Path and generally in that neighborhood . . . This species grows on dry ground, or higher than the purpurea, and is more delicate. August 29, 1857
Nearby, north, is a rocky ridge, on the east slope of which the Corallorhiza multiflora is very abundant. Call that Corallorhiza Rocks. August 29, 1857
Spotted coral-root
Mt. Pritchard August 2018
(Avesong)
With the knowledge of the name comes a distincter recognition and knowledge of' the thing . . . My knowledge now becomes communicable and grows by communication. I can now learn what others know about the same thing. August 29, 1858
The moss rose hips will be quite ripe in a day or two. August 29, 1854
[Farmer] hears — heard a week ago — the sound of a bird flying over, like cra-a-ack, cr-r-r-a-k, only in the night, and thinks it may be a blue heron. August 29, 1858
Hear the night-warbler and whip-poor-will. August 29, 1860
[Farmer] hears — heard a week ago — the sound of a bird flying over, like cra-a-ack, cr-r-r-a-k, only in the night, and thinks it may be a blue heron. August 29, 1858
Hear the night-warbler and whip-poor-will. August 29, 1860
The air is filled with mist, yet a transparent mist, a principle in it you might call flavor, which ripens fruits. August 29, 1851
Fragrant everlasting in prime and very abundant, whitening Carter's pasture. August 29, 1856
Walking down the street in the evening, I detect my neighbor’s ripening grapes by the scent twenty rods off. August 29, 1853
Walking down the street in the evening, I detect my neighbor’s ripening grapes by the scent twenty rods off. August 29, 1853
So, too, ever and anon I pass through a little region possessed by the fragrance of ripe apples. August 29, 1853
Man, too, ripens with the grapes and apples. August 29, 1859
This haziness seems to confine and concentrate the sunlight, as if you lived in a halo. It is August. August 29, 1851
*****
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Cricket in August
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Helianthus
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Aromatic Herbs
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Partridge-berry (Mitchella Repens)
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The White-bellied Swallow
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Cherry-bird (cedar waxwing)
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Eastern Kingbird
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Golden Robin
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Blue Heron
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, August Moods
*****
August 29, 2022
April 23, 1857 ("All nature is my bride.")
August 1, 1852 ("The small rough sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus) tells of August heats”)
August 10, 1856 ("Fragrant everlasting, maybe some days.”)
August 11, 1858 ("I smell the fragrant everlasting concealed in the higher grass and weeds there, some distance off. It reminds me of the lateness of the season");
August 11, 1856 ("A new sunflower at Wheeler's Bank, this side Corner Spring, which I will call the tall rough sunflower; . . . It does not correspond exactly to any described.”)
August 11, 1858 (“See a small variety of helianthus growing with the divaricatus, on the north side of Peter’s path, two rods east of bars southeast of his house. It is an imperfect flower, but apparently answers best to the H. tracheliifolius.”)
August 12, 1856 (“Am surprised to see still a third species or variety of helianthus (which may have opened near August 1st). . . I cannot identify it.")
August 10, 1856 ("Fragrant everlasting, maybe some days.”)
August 11, 1858 ("I smell the fragrant everlasting concealed in the higher grass and weeds there, some distance off. It reminds me of the lateness of the season");
August 11, 1856 ("A new sunflower at Wheeler's Bank, this side Corner Spring, which I will call the tall rough sunflower; . . . It does not correspond exactly to any described.”)
August 11, 1858 (“See a small variety of helianthus growing with the divaricatus, on the north side of Peter’s path, two rods east of bars southeast of his house. It is an imperfect flower, but apparently answers best to the H. tracheliifolius.”)
August 12, 1856 (“Am surprised to see still a third species or variety of helianthus (which may have opened near August 1st). . . I cannot identify it.")
August 13, 1852 ("I hear that the Corallorhiza odontorhiza, coral-root, is out.)
August 13, 1857 ("Corallorhiza multiflora . . . how long")
August 18, 1853 ("Many leaves of the cultivated cherry are turned yellow, and a very few leaves of the elm have fallen.")
August 13, 1857 ("Corallorhiza multiflora . . . how long")
August 18, 1853 ("Many leaves of the cultivated cherry are turned yellow, and a very few leaves of the elm have fallen.")
August 20, 1851 ("Botany is worth studying if only for the precision of its terms, — to learn the value of words and of system.")
August 21, 1856 ("Rains still all day, and wind rises, and shakes off much fruit and beats down the corn.")
August 20, 1851 ("The golden robin is now a rare bird to see.")
August 22, 1852 ("The elder bushes are weighed down with fruit partially turned, and are still in bloom at the extremities of their twigs.")
August 23, 1856 ("Elder-berries, now looking purple, are weighing down the bushes along fences by their abundance.")
August 23, 1856 ("Elder-berries, now looking purple, are weighing down the bushes along fences by their abundance.")
August 25, 1852 ("A fall rain, coincident with a different mood or season of the mind. ")
August 26, 1851 ("The ground is strewn with windfalls, and much fruit will consequently be lost.")
August 26, 1858 ("Hips of moss rose not long scarlet.")
August 26, 1859 ("The first fall rain is a memorable occasion, when the river is raised and cooled, and the first crop of sere and yellow leaves falls. The air is cleared; the dog-days are over; sun-sparkles are seen on water; crickets sound more distinct . . . sparrows and bobolinks fly in flocks more and more. ")
August 27, 1852 ("Hips of the early roses are reddening.")
August 27, 1856 ("The large depressed globular hips of the moss rose begin to turn scarlet in low ground")
August 27, 1856 ("The large depressed globular hips of the moss rose begin to turn scarlet in low ground")
August 27, 1859 ("The first notice I have that grapes are ripening is by the rich scent at evening from my own native vine against the house")
August 27, 1859 ("Elder-berry clusters swell and become heavy and therefore droop, bending the bushes down, just in proportion as they ripen.")
August 27, 1859 ("Elder-berry clusters swell and become heavy and therefore droop, bending the bushes down, just in proportion as they ripen.")
August 28, 1853 ("A cool, white, autumnal evening. ")
August 28, 1858("When the wind stirs after the rain, leaves that were prematurely ripe or withered begin to strew the ground on the leeward side.")
August 28, 1858 ("When . . . I see these bright leaves strewing the moist ground . . . I am reminded that I have crossed the summit ridge of the year and have begun to descend the other slope.")
August 28, 1859 ("A cool day; wind northwest.")
August 30, 1853 ("Grapes are already ripe; I smell them first.")
August 30, 1858 ("I hear behind me a singular loud stertorous sound . . . twice sounded. Looking round, I saw a blue heron flying low, about forty rods distant, and have no doubt the sound was made by him. Probably this is the sound which Farmer hears.")
August 31, 1853 ("Great black cymes of elder berries now bend down the bushes.")August 31, 1858 ("I see to-day one golden robin.")
September 1, 1860 ("Now see many birds about E. Hubbard's elder hedge, — bobolinks, kingbirds, pigeon woodpeckers, — and not elsewhere.")
September 4, 1860 ("It is cooler these days and nights, and I move into an eastern chamber in the morning, that I may sit in the sun")
September 11, 1852 ("These fall rains are a peculiarity of the season")
September 11, 1853 ("Cool weather. Sit with windows shut, and many by fires. . . .The air has got an autumnal coolness which it will not get rid of again.")
September 11, 1853 ("Cool weather. Sit with windows shut, and many by fires. . . .The air has got an autumnal coolness which it will not get rid of again.")
September 17, 1858 (“Cooler weather now for two or three days, so that I am glad to sit in the sun on the east side of the house mornings.”)
September 18, 1852 ("In the forenoons I move into a chamber on the east side of the house, and so follow the sun round.”)
September 19, 1852 ("The fall dandelion and the fragrant everlasting abound")December 1, 1856 ("I love and could embrace the shrub oak with its scanty garment of leaves rising above the snow . . . I felt a positive yearning toward one bush this afternoon. There was a match found for me at last. I fell in love with a shrub oak.”)
And I know she's living there
And she loves me to this day
I still can't remember when
Or how I lost my way . . .
August 29, 2016
If you make the least correct
observation of nature this year,
you will have occasion to repeat it
with illustrations the next,
and the season and life itself is prolonged.
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, August 29
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 © 2009-2022
tinyurl.com/HDT29August
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