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
A wild sound heard far
suited to the wildest lake –
laughing of a loon.
These lit glowing leaves
by the dry stony shore of
this cool and deep well.
On the southwest side
black birches clear pale yellow–
maples of all tints.
Along the river
the red maples which changed first
now partly fallen.
I have seen and heard
sparrows in flocks flitting by
since the frosts began.
October 3, 1860
,
October 3, 2020
A great many leaves have fallen and the trees begin to look thin. You incline to sit in a sunny and sheltered place. This season, the fall which the have now entered on, commenced, I may say, as long ago as when the first frost was seen and felt in low ground in August. From that time, even, the year has been gradually winding up its accounts. October 3, 1859
Have noticed a very brilliant scarlet blackberry patch within a week. October 3, 1858
The pine fall, i.e. change, is commenced, and the trees are mottled green and yellowish. October 3, 1852
The white pines are now getting to be pretty generally parti-colored, the lower yellowing needles ready to fall. October 3, 1856
White pines fairly begin to change. October 3, 1858
The Rhus radicans also turns yellow and red or scarlet, like the Toxicodendron. October 3, 1857
The sumachs are generally crimson (darker than scarlet), and young trees and bushes by the water and meadows are generally beginning to glow red and yellow. October 3, 1856
The red maples which changed first, along the river, are now faded and partly fallen. They look more pink. But others are lit, and so there is more color than before. Some particular maple among a hundred will be of a peculiarly bright and pure scarlet, and, by its difference of tint and intenser color, attract our eyes even at a distance in the midst of the crowd. October 3, 1858
The maples about Walden are quite handsome now. . . .About the pond I see maples of all their tints, and black birches (on the southwest side) clear pale yellow; and on the peak young chestnut clumps and walnuts are considerably yellowed. .October 3, 1858
Especially the hillsides about Walden begin to wear these autumnal tints in the cooler air. These lit leaves, this glowing, bright-tinted shrubbery, is in singular harmony with the dry, stony shore of this cool and deep well. October 3, 1856
Looking all around Fair Haven Pond yesterday, where the maples were glowing amid the evergreens, my eyes invariably rested on a particular small maple of the purest and intensest scarlet. October 3, 1858
I see the ground strewn with Populus grandidentata leaves in one place on the old Carlisle road, where one third are fallen. These yellow leaves are all thickly brown-spotted and are very handsome. . .— they cover the still green sward by the roadside and the gray road thick as a pavement, each one worthy to be admired as a gem or work of Oriental art. October 3, 1859
The hard frost of September 28th, 29th, and 30th, and especially of October 1st, has suddenly killed, crisped, and caused to fall a great many leaves of ash, hickory, etc., etc. October 3, 1860
Hear the loud laughing of a loon on Flint's, apparently alone in the middle. A wild sound, heard far and suited to the wildest lake. October 3, 1852
Many acorns strew the ground, and have fallen into the water. October 3, 1852
See Vanessa Antiopa. October 3, 1860
Bay-wings about. October 3, 1860
I see on a wall a myrtle-bird in its October dress, looking very much like a small sparrow. October 3, 1859
I have seen and heard sparrows in flocks, more as if flitting by, within a week, or since the frosts began. October 3, 1860
Asters, and still more goldenrods, look quite rare now. October 3, 1857
The Aster undulates is common and fresh, also the Solidago nemoralis of Gray. October 3, 1852
A fringed gentian, plucked day before yesterday, at length, this forenoon, untwists and turns its petals partially, in my chamber. October 3, 1858
Viola lanceolata in Moore's Swamp. October 3, 1853
*****
October 3, 2020
*****
September 12, 1854 ("White oak acorns have many of them fallen. . . .. Some black scrub oak acorns have fallen, and a few black oak acorns also have fallen. The red oak began to fall first.")
September 17, 1858 (“Methinks, too, that there are more sparrows in flocks now about in garden”)
September 19, 1852 ("The Viola lanceolata has blossomed again, and the lambkill.");
September 20, 1852 ("The Viola sagittata has blossomed again.")
September 20, 1852 ("Aster undulatus, or variable aster, with a large head of middle-sized blue flowers.");
September 23, 1851 ("I scare up large flocks of sparrows in the garden.");
September 23, 1854 ("Low blackberry vines generally red. ")
September 25, 1854 ("I am detained by the very bright red blackberry leaves strewn along the sod")
September 25, 1857 (“A single tree becomes the crowning beauty of some meadowy vale and attracts the attention of the traveller from afar.”);
September 26, 1854 ("Some single red maples are very splendid now, the whole tree bright-scarlet against the cold green pines; now, when very few trees are changed, a most remarkable object in the landscape; seen a mile off. ")
September 26, 1858 (“Now is the time, too, when flocks of sparrows begin to scour over the weedy fields,”)
September 27, 1855 ("Some single red maples now fairly make a show along the meadow. I see a blaze of red reflected from the troubled water.")
September 27, 1857 (“At last, its labors for the year being consummated and every leaf ripened to its full, it flashes out conspicuous to the eye of the most casual observer, with all the virtue and beauty of a maple, – Acer rubrum.”)
September 27, 1858 ("What are those little birds in flocks in the garden and on the peach trees these mornings, about size of chip-birds, without distinct chestnut crowns?”)
September 23, 1851 ("I scare up large flocks of sparrows in the garden.");
September 23, 1854 ("Low blackberry vines generally red. ")
September 25, 1854 ("I am detained by the very bright red blackberry leaves strewn along the sod")
September 25, 1857 (“A single tree becomes the crowning beauty of some meadowy vale and attracts the attention of the traveller from afar.”);
September 26, 1854 ("Some single red maples are very splendid now, the whole tree bright-scarlet against the cold green pines; now, when very few trees are changed, a most remarkable object in the landscape; seen a mile off. ")
September 26, 1858 (“Now is the time, too, when flocks of sparrows begin to scour over the weedy fields,”)
September 27, 1855 ("Some single red maples now fairly make a show along the meadow. I see a blaze of red reflected from the troubled water.")
September 27, 1857 (“At last, its labors for the year being consummated and every leaf ripened to its full, it flashes out conspicuous to the eye of the most casual observer, with all the virtue and beauty of a maple, – Acer rubrum.”)
September 27, 1858 ("What are those little birds in flocks in the garden and on the peach trees these mornings, about size of chip-birds, without distinct chestnut crowns?”)
September 28, 1852 (" I find the hood-leaved violet quite abundant in a meadow, and the pedata in the Boulder Field. I have now seen all but the blanda, palmata, and pubescens blooming again .. . This is the commencement, then, of the second spring")
September 28, 1853 ("Viola cucullata")September 30, 1857 (“Rhus Toxicodendron turned yellow and red, handsomely dotted with brown.”)
September 28, 1853 ("Viola cucullata")September 30, 1857 (“Rhus Toxicodendron turned yellow and red, handsomely dotted with brown.”)
September 30, 1854 ("Acorns are generally now turned brown and fallen or falling; the ground is strewn with them and in paths they are crushed by feet and wheels.");
October 1, 1859 ("The shrub oaks on this hill are now at their height, both with respect to their tints and their fruit. . . .Now is the time for shrub oak acorns if not for others.");
October 1, 1860.(“C. saw the first Vanessa Antiopa since spring.”)
October 1, 1860 ("Remarkable frost and ice this morning . . . I do not remember such cold at this season.")
October 1, 1858 ("Viola lanceolata again.")
October 1, 1858 ("The fringed gentians are now in prime. . . .They who see them closed, or in the afternoon only, do not suspect their beauty.")
October 1, 1852 ("The young and tender trees begin to assume the autumnal tints more generally,"); October 1, 1854 ("The young black birches about Walden, next the south shore, are now commonly clear pale yellow, very distinct at distance, like bright-yellow white birches, so slender amid the dense growth of oaks and evergreens on the steep shores. ")
October 1, 1860.(“C. saw the first Vanessa Antiopa since spring.”)
October 1, 1860 ("Remarkable frost and ice this morning . . . I do not remember such cold at this season.")
October 1, 1858 ("Viola lanceolata again.")
October 1, 1858 ("The fringed gentians are now in prime. . . .They who see them closed, or in the afternoon only, do not suspect their beauty.")
October 1, 1852 ("The young and tender trees begin to assume the autumnal tints more generally,"); October 1, 1854 ("The young black birches about Walden, next the south shore, are now commonly clear pale yellow, very distinct at distance, like bright-yellow white birches, so slender amid the dense growth of oaks and evergreens on the steep shores. ")
October 2, 1851 ("Some of the white pines on Fair Haven Hill have just reached the acme of their fall; others have almost entirely shed their leaves, and they are scattered over the ground and the walls.")
October 2, 1852 ("How much more beautiful the lakes now, like Fair Haven, surrounded by the autumn-tinted woods and hills, as in an ornamented frame!")
October 2, 1852 ("Some maples in sprout-lands are of a delicate, pure, clear, unspotted red, inclining to crimson, surpassing most flowers. I would fain pluck the whole tree and carry it home for a nosegay.")
October 2, 1852 ("How much more beautiful the lakes now, like Fair Haven, surrounded by the autumn-tinted woods and hills, as in an ornamented frame!")
October 2, 1852 ("Some maples in sprout-lands are of a delicate, pure, clear, unspotted red, inclining to crimson, surpassing most flowers. I would fain pluck the whole tree and carry it home for a nosegay.")
October 2, 1853 ("The smooth sumach is but a dull red. ")
October 2, 1856 ("Solidago bicolor considerably past prime")
October 2, 1856 ("The mountain sumach now a dark scarlet quite generally. )
October 2, 1856 ("Solidago bicolor considerably past prime")
October 2, 1856 ("The mountain sumach now a dark scarlet quite generally. )
October 2, 1857("A great many red maples are merely yellow; more, scarlet, in some cases deepening to crimson")
October 2, 1857 ("The fringed gentian at Hubbard's Close has been out some time, and most of it already withered")
.October 2, 1853 ("The gentian in Hubbard's Close is frost-bitten extensively")
October 2, 1858 ("The garden is alive with migrating sparrows these mornings.")
October 2, 1859 ("The A. undulatus looks fairer than ever, now that flowers are more scarce.")
October 4, 1853 ("Bumblebees are on the Aster undulatus")
October 5, 1858 (“I still see large flocks, apparently of chip birds, on the weeds and ground in the yard.”)
October 5, 1853 ("The howling of the wind about the house just before a storm to-night sounds like a loon on the pond. How fit”)
October 6, 1858 (“The Aster undulatus is now very fair and interesting. Generally a tall and slender plant with a very long panicle of middle-sized lilac or paler purple flowers, bent over to one side the path.")
October 7, 1860 ("I see one small but spreading white oak full of acorns just falling and ready to fall")
October 2, 1857 ("The fringed gentian at Hubbard's Close has been out some time, and most of it already withered")
.October 2, 1853 ("The gentian in Hubbard's Close is frost-bitten extensively")
October 2, 1858 ("The garden is alive with migrating sparrows these mornings.")
October 2, 1859 ("The A. undulatus looks fairer than ever, now that flowers are more scarce.")
October 4, 1853 ("Bumblebees are on the Aster undulatus")
October 5, 1858 (“I still see large flocks, apparently of chip birds, on the weeds and ground in the yard.”)
October 5, 1853 ("The howling of the wind about the house just before a storm to-night sounds like a loon on the pond. How fit”)
October 6, 1858 (“The Aster undulatus is now very fair and interesting. Generally a tall and slender plant with a very long panicle of middle-sized lilac or paler purple flowers, bent over to one side the path.")
October 7, 1860 ("I see one small but spreading white oak full of acorns just falling and ready to fall")
October 8, 1852 (“Nothing can exceed the brilliancy of some of the maples which stand by the shore and extend their red banners over the water.”)
October 8, 1852 ("As I was paddling along the north shore, after having looked in vain over the pond for a loon, suddenly a loon, sailing toward the middle, a few rods in front, set up his wild laugh and betrayed himself")October 9, 1858 (“Bay-wings flit along road.”)
October 10, 1853 ("There are . . . large flocks of small sparrows, which make a business of washing and pruning themselves in the puddles in the road, as if cleaning up after a long flight and the wind of yesterday.”)
October 10, 1851 ("There are many things to indicate the renewing of spring at this season")
October 10, 1853 ("There are . . . large flocks of small sparrows, which make a business of washing and pruning themselves in the puddles in the road, as if cleaning up after a long flight and the wind of yesterday.”)
October 10, 1851 ("There are many things to indicate the renewing of spring at this season")
October 10, 1859 ("White-throated sparrows in yard and close up to house, together with myrtle-birds (which fly up against side of house and alight on window-sills)");
October 11, 1856 (“Bay-wing sparrows numerous.”)
October 11, 1860 ("There is a remarkably abundant crop of white oak acorns this fall, also a fair crop of red oak acorns; but not of scarlet and black, very few of them. The acorns are now in the very midst of their fall.")
October 12, 1859 (“I see scattered flocks of bay-wings amid the weeds and on the fences.”)
October 12, 1858 ("Acorns, red and white (especially the first), appear to be fallen or falling.").
October 12, 1857 ("The fringed gentian by the brook opposite is in its prime, and also along the north edge of the Painted-Cup Meadows")
October 13, 1859 ("I see no acorns on the trees. They appear to have all fallen before this.");October 12, 1858 ("Acorns, red and white (especially the first), appear to be fallen or falling.").
October 12, 1857 ("The fringed gentian by the brook opposite is in its prime, and also along the north edge of the Painted-Cup Meadows")
October 14, 1859 ("The ground is strewn also with red oak acorns now, and, as far as I can discover, acorns of all kinds have fallen.")
October 14, 1859 ("The shrub oak acorns are now all fallen, — only one or two left on,")
October 14, 1855 ("Some sparrow-like birds with yellow on rump flitting about our wood-pile. One flies up against the house and alights on the window-sill within a foot of me inside. Black bill and feet, yellow rump, brown above, yellowish-brown on head, cream-colored chin, two white bars on wings, tail black, edged with white, — the yellow-rump warbler or myrtle-bird without doubt. ")
October 15, 1859 ("I think I see myrtle-birds on white birches, and that they are the birds I saw on them a week or two ago, — apparently, or probably, after the birch lice.")
October 16, 1855 ("How evenly the freshly fallen pine-needles are spread on the ground! quite like a carpet.")
October 16, 1857("The large poplar (P. grandidentata) is now at the height of its change, – clear yellow, but many leaves have fallen.")October 16, 1855 ("How evenly the freshly fallen pine-needles are spread on the ground! quite like a carpet.")
October 19, 1859 ("C. says that he saw a loon at Walden the 15th.")
October 19, 1856 ("See quite a flock of myrtle-birds, — which I might carelessly have mistaken for slate-colored snowbirds, — flitting about on the rocky hillside under Conantum Cliff. They show about three white or light-colored spots when they fly, commonly no bright yellow, though some are pretty bright.")
October 21, 1857 ("I see many myrtle-birds now about the house this forenoon, on the advent of cooler weather. They keep flying up against the house and the window and fluttering there, as if they would come in, or alight on the wood-pile or pump. They would commonly be mistaken for sparrows, but show more white when they fly, beside the yellow on the rump and sides of breast seen near to and two white bars on the wings.")
October 25, 1858 ("The leaves of the Populus grandidentata, though half fallen and turned a pure and handsome yellow, are still wagging as fast as ever. These do not lose their color and wither on the tree like oaks and beeches and some of their allies,...— but they are fresh and unwilted, full of sap and fair as ever when they are first strewn on the ground. I do not think of any tree whose leaves are so fresh and fair when they fall. October 25, 1858")
October 25, 1858 ("The Aster undulatus is now a dark purple (its leaves), with brighter purple or crimson under sides.")
October 28, 1858 ("How handsome the great red oak acorns now! I stand under the tree on Emerson’s lot. They are still falling. I heard one fall into the water ")
November 3, 1858 ("Aster undulatus is still freshly in bloom")
October 28, 1858 ("How handsome the great red oak acorns now! I stand under the tree on Emerson’s lot. They are still falling. I heard one fall into the water ")
November 3, 1858 ("Aster undulatus is still freshly in bloom")
November 7, 1858 ("Aster undulatus and several goldenrods, at least, may be found yet.")
November 9, 1850 (" I expect to find that it is only for a few weeks in the fall after the new leaves have done growing that there are any yellow and falling, — that there is a season when we may say the old pine leaves are now yellow, and again, they are fallen.")
November 9, 1850 (" I expect to find that it is only for a few weeks in the fall after the new leaves have done growing that there are any yellow and falling, — that there is a season when we may say the old pine leaves are now yellow, and again, they are fallen.")
October 3, 2020
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, October 3
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
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