A Book of the Seasons: May 29 (dandelion and mouse-ear gone to seed; blue-eyed grass, ranunculus bulbosus, arethusa bulbosa and barberry in bloom)

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

May 29.

These are afternoons 

when you expect a thunder-

shower before night.

May 29, 1853

The white maple keys

fall and float down the stream like

wings of great insects.

May 29, 1854

I sit on Lee's Cliff

looking into the light and

dark eye of the lake.

May 29,1857

Suddenly perching

a hummingbird plumes himself –

the rain beginning.

May 29, 1857

May 29, 2015

Sunniness in shadows

of freshly expanded leaves--

these first bright flashings

are the glances of

an eye from under the dark

eyelashes of June.

May 29, 1857

Coming out of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery today, where I had just been to deposit the corpse of a man, I pick up an oak tree three inches high with the acorn attached. May 29, 1859

With all this opportunity, this comedy and tragedy, how near all men come to doing nothing! May 29, 1857

A still, clear air in which the hum of insects is heard, and the sunniness contrasts with the shadows of the freshly expanded foliage, like the glances of an eye from under the dark eyelashes of June. May 29, 1857

The sun came out an hour or more ago, rapidly drying the foliage, and for the first time this year I noticed the little shades produced by the foliage which had expanded in the rain, and long narrow dark lines of shade along the hedges or willow-rows. May 29, 1857

It was like the first bright flashings of an eye from under dark eyelashes after shedding warm tears. May 29, 1857

Fogs this and yesterday morning. May 29, 1852

These last two days, with their sultry, hazy air, are the first that suggest the expression “the furnace-like heat.” Bathing has begun. May 29, 1853

Place my hat lightly on my head that the air may circulate beneath. May 29, 1853

Cattle stand in the river by the bridge for coolness. May 29, 1853

Saw male and female wood tortoise in a meadow . . .They are the most of a land turtle except the box turtle. May 29, 1860

We proceeded to the Cooper’s hawk nest .. . .I climbed to the nest, some thirty to thirty-five feet high in a white pine, against the main stem. May 29, 1860

Some eighteen feet high in a white pine in a swamp in the oak meadow lot, I climbed to a red squirrel’s nest. May 29, 1860

We next proceeded to the marsh hawk’s nest from which the eggs were taken a fortnight ago and the female shot. Yet here was the male, hovering anxiously over the spot and neighborhood and scolding at us. May 29, 1860

In a tall pine wood on a hill . . . I climbed to a nest high in a white pine, apparently a crow’s just completed, as it were on a squirrel’s nest for a foundation. May 29, 1860

In another white pine nearby, some thirty feet up it, I found a gray squirrel’s nest, with young about as big as the red squirrels were, but yet blind May 29, 1860

I have thus found three squirrels’ nests this year, two gray and one red, in these masses of twigs and leaves and bark exposed in the tree-tops . May 29, 1860

What is the new warbler I see and hear frequently now, with apparently a black head, white side-head, brown back, forked tail, and light legs? May 29, 1857

The leaves now conceal the warblers, etc., considerably. You can see them best in white oaks, etc., not maples and birches. May 29, 1860

There are a great many birds now on the Island Neck. May 29, 1855

The birds sing more lively than ever now after the rain, though it is only 2 p. m. May 29, 1857

I hear from vireos (probably red-eyes) in woods a fine harsh note, perhaps when angry with each other May 29, 1860

The red-eye, its clear loud song in bars continuously repeated and varied; all tempered white beneath and dark yellow olive above and on edge of wings, with a dark line on side-head or from root of bill; dusky claws, and a very long bill. The long bill and the dark line on the side of the head, with the white above and beneath, or in the midst of the white, giving it a certain oblong, swelled-cheek look, would distinguish on a side view. May 29, 1855

There is also the warbling vireo, with its smooth-flowing, continuous, one-barred, shorter strain, with methinks a dusky side-head. May 29, 1855

Also the yellow-throated vireo—its strain but little varied and short, not continuous. May 29, 1855

How still the hot noon; people have retired behind blinds. May 29, 1853 I see men and women through open windows in white undress taking their Sunday-afternoon nap, overcome with heat. May 29, 1853

A fine-grained air, June-like, after a cloudy, rain- threatening or rainy morning. May 29, 1857

Yet the kingbird — lively bird, with white belly and tail edged with white, and with its lively twittering— stirs and keeps the air brisk. May 29, 1853

I see the tanager hoarsely warbling in the shade; the surprising red bird … It appears as if he loved to contrast himself with the green of the forest. May 29, 1853

The barrenest pastures wear now a green and luxuriant aspect. May 29, 1853

I see the first swamp sparrow of the season, and probably heard its loud song; Low, amid the alders. May 29, 1855

A cuckoo’s note, loud and hollow, from a wood-side. May 29, 1856

I see and hear the cuckoo. May 29, 1857

I hear the quails nowadays while surveying. May 29, 1852

The republican swallow at Hosmer's barn just begun to lay. May 29, 1859

I see many of those round, white, pigeon-egg fungi in the grass since the rains. Do they become puffballs? May 29, 1853

Fine red mammilla galls stud the black cherry leaves. Galls begin with the very unfolding of the leaves. May 29, 1857

Cherry-birds on the apple trees May 29, 1856

That willow by the rock south of Island (of May 2d) appears to be without doubt the Salix sericea, — the leaves beginning to turn black quite soon, and the bark is very bitter. May 29, 1855

There is, then, another small willow or sallow with narrower and shining leaves, very common along river, with longer catkins and very long tapering smooth pods, —I mean the one I have associated with the S. alba. May 29, 1855

The Salix nigra, apparently several days, at Corner Bridge. May 29, 1857

Buttonwood, one tree, not for two or three days. May 29, 1858

And now and for some days the bunches of effete white ash anthers strew the ground. May 29, 1857

Black shrub oaks well out. May 29, 1857

It is encouraging to see thrifty-growing white pines . . . which have added three feet to their height the last year. May 29, 1857

Common crataegus, apparently some days. May 29, 1856

The Cratægus Crus-Galli this side the Holden place on left, probably yesterday, thorns three inches long, flowers with anthers not conspicuously red. May 29, 1853

Thorn bushes and the Ranunculus bulbosus are apparently in prime. May 29, 1859

Ranunculus bulbosus in bloom; saxifrage; and various ferns, as spleenwort, etc. May 29, 1857

Ranunculus repens (sepals not recurved and leaves a spotted look), apparently a day. May 29, 1856

Where you find a rare flower, expect to find more rare ones. May 29, 1856

What a flowery place, a vale of Enna, is that meadow! May 29, 1856

Found a painted-cup with more yellow than usual in it, and at length Edith found one perfectly yellow. May 29, 1856

Painted Cup, Erigeron bellidifolius, Thalictrum dioicum, Viola Muhlenbergii, fringed polygala, buck-bean, pedicularis, orobanche, etc., etc. May 29, 1856

Saw, in a shaded swamp beyond, the Stellaria borealis, still out, — large, broadish leaves. May 29, 1860

The wild asparagus beyond Hunt’s Bridge will apparently open in two days. May 29, 1860

Two Arethusa bulbosa at Hubbard’s Close apparently a day or two. May 29, 1856

Arethusa bulbosa, well out. May 29, 1858

Golden senecio there, a day or two, at least. May 29, 1856

White clover. May 29, 1856

Oxalis stricta. May 29, 1857

Fields are whitened with mouse-ear gone to seed —a mass of white fuzz blowing off one side — and also with dandelion globes of seeds. May 29, 1853

Dandelions and mouse-ear down have been blowing for some time and are seen on water. May 29, 1854

Geum rivale, well out. May 29, 1856

Juniperus communis, a day or two at least, probably more. May 29, 1856

The Viola debilis near west end of Holden farm in meadow south side of road. May 29, 1853

Saw sanicle well flower-budded. May 29, 1856

Azalea nudiflora in garden. May 29, 1855

The Polygonatum pubescens out there. May 29, 1857

Some, nay most, Turritis stricta quite out of bloom. May 29, 1857

Calla apparently in two or three, or three or four days, the very earliest. May 29, 1858

A few of the Cornus florida buds by the pond have escaped after all. May 29, 1858

Cornus Canadensis blooms apparently with C. florida; not quite yet. May 29, 1858

How universal that strawberry-like fragrance of the fir-balsam cone and wilted twig! May 29, 1857

I perceive the buttery-like scent of barberry bloom from over the rock, May 29, 1857

Barberry in bloom, wild pinks, and blue-eyed grass. May 29, 1852

That exceedingly neat and interesting little flower blue-eyed grass now claims our attention. May 29, 1853

Blue-eyed grass, probably to-morrow. May 29, 1856

Raspberry out. May 29, 1853

Rubus triflorus, well out, at Calla Swamp, how long? May 29, 1858

Thimble-berry two or three days. May 29, 1853

Wild roses budded before you know it — will be out often before you know they are budded. May 29, 1853

Spergularia rubra, spurry sandwort, in the roadside ditch on left just beyond A. Hosmer's hill; also Veronica peregrina (?) a good while. May 29, 1853

The thyme-leaved veronica shows its modest face in little crescent-shaped regiments in every little hollow in the pastures where there is moisture, and around stumps and in the road ditches. May 29, 1853

The Veronica serpyllifolia, now erect, is commonly found in moist depressions or hollows in the pastures. May 29, 1857

I mistook dense groves of little barberries in the droppings of cows in the Boulder Field for apple trees at first. May 29, 1858

See the genista, winter-killed at top, some seven or eight rods north of the southernmost large boulder in the Boulder Field. May 29, 1858

Cannot find any large corydalis plants where it has been very plenty. May 29, 1858

Red and black oaks are out at Lee's Cliff, well out, and already there are crimson spots on the red oak leaves. May 29, 1857

As I stand on the rocks, examining the blossoms of some forward black oaks which close overhang it, I think I hear the sound of flies against my hat. No, it is scattered raindrops. May 29, 1857

The drops fall thicker, and I seek a shelter under the Cliffs. May 29, 1857

Soon I hear the low all-pervading hum of an approaching hummingbird circling above the rock, . . . presently the hum becomes more sharp and thrilling, and the little fellow suddenly perches on an ash twig within a rod of me, and plumes himself while the rain is fairly beginning. He is quite out of proportion to the size of his perch. It does not acknowledge his weight. May 29, 1857

Suddenly perching

a hummingbird plumes himself.

The rain beginning,

May 29, 1857

I sit at my ease and look out from under my lichen-clad rocky roof, half-way up the Cliff, under freshly leafing ash and hickory trees on to the pond, while the rain is falling faster and faster, and I am rather glad of the rain, which affords me this experience. May 29, 1857

Those great hickory buds, how much they contained! You see now the large reddish scales turned back at the base of the new twigs. May 29, 1857

The rain has compelled me to find the cosiest and most homelike part of all the Cliff. May 29, 1857

The surface of the pond, though the rain dimples it all alike and I perceive no wind, is still divided into irregular darker and lighter spaces, with distinct boundaries, as it were watered all over. May 29, 1857

I find here sheltered with me a sweet-briar growing in a cleft of the rock above my head, where perhaps some bird or squirrel planted it. May 29, 1857

Mulleins beneath. Galium Aparine, just begun to bloom, growing next the rock; and, in the earth-filled clefts, columbines, some of whose cornucopias strew the ground. May 29, 1857

Some of these plants are never rained on. May 29, 1857

A mosquito, sole living inhabitant of this antrum, settles on my hand. May 29, 1857


There are myriads of shad-flies fluttering over the dark and still water under the hill, one every yard or two, continually descending, almost falling, to the surface of the water as if to drink and then rising again, again to fall upon it, and so on. May 29, 1854

Now comes along a large dragon-fly and snatches one. May 29, 1854

Other smaller insects, light-colored, are fluttering low close to the water, and in some places are swarms of small black moths. May 29, 1854

The white maple keys have begun to fall and float down the stream like the wings of great insects. May 29, 1854

Fair Haven Lake now, at 4.30 p. m., is perfectly smooth, reflecting the darker and glowing June clouds as it has not before. May 29, 1857

Now I see a great dark low-arching cloud in the northwest already dropping rain there and steadily sweeping southeast, as I go over the first Conantum Hill from the spring. May 29, 1857

The rest of the sky is quite serene, sprinkled here and there with bright downy, glowing summer clouds. May 29, 1857

These are afternoons when you expect a thunder-shower before night; the outlines of cloudy cumuli are dimly seen through the hazy, furnace-like air, rising in the west. May 29, 1853

It is a first regular summer thunder-shower, preceded by a rush of wind. . .And now the forked flashes descending to the earth succeed rapidly to the hollow roars above, and down comes the deluging rain. May 29, 1857

The air at length is cool and chilly, the atmosphere is darkened, and I have forgotten the smooth pond and its reflections. May 29, 1857

The rock feels cold to my body, as if it were a different season of the year. May 29, 1857

You were not aware what a sound the rain made. May 29, 1857

In the evening and during the night the ring of the toads fills the air. May 29, 1853

I sit on the top of Lee's Cliff, looking into the light and dark eye of the lake. May 29, 1857

The woods are dripping wet, the hemlocks' bright new growth just beginning to show.  Along the cliff edge three lady's slippers bloom. The hermit thrush sings. May 29, 2016

*****

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, blue-eyed grass

The shadows of the freshly expanded foliage, like the glances of an eye from under the dark eyelashes of June. See June 4, 1855 ("dark shadows on field and wood are the more remarkable by contrast with the light yellow-green foliage now, and when they rest on evergreens they are doubly dark, like dark rings about the eyes of June."); June 9. 1856 ("Now I notice where an elm is in the shadow of a cloud,—the black elm-tops and shadows of June. It is a dark eyelash which suggests a flashing eye beneath.”); June 11, 1856 (“I observe and appreciate the shade, as it were the shadow of each particular leaf on the ground. . . . It reminds me of the thunder-cloud and the dark eyelash of summer.”). See also .note to June 6, 1855 ("The dark eye and shade of June”).

Looking into the light and dark eye of the lake. See June 26, 1852 ("The smooth reflecting surface of woodland lakes . . . Those liquid eyes of nature, blue or black or even hazel, deep or shallow, clear or turbid; green next the shore, the color of their iris.”)

Lady-slippers bloom

in the damp evening woods as

the hermit thrush sings.

May 29, 2016

zphx

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.

  April 7, 1853 

May 28< <<<<<. May 29    >>>>> May 30

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, May 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