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
Viewed from a hilltop
it is blue in the depths and
green in the shallows.
August 27, 1852
Cooler nights of late
but by day heat of the sun
local, palpable.
Leaves of young maples
in water about the pond
now are quite scarlet.
August 27, 2016
All our life, i.e. the living part of it, is a persistent dreaming awake. August 27, 1859
Polygala cruciata, cross-leaved polygala, in the meadow between Trillium Woods and railroad. This is rare and new to me. It has a very sweet, but as it were intermittent, fragrance, as of checkerberry and mayflowers combined. August 27, 1851
Unusually cold last night. August 27, 1856
The nights have been cooler of late, but the heat of the sun by day has been more local and palpable. August 27, 1860
The nights have been cooler of late, but the heat of the sun by day has been more local and palpable. August 27, 1860
Hypericum Canadense and mutilum now pretty generally open at 4 P.M., thus late in the season, it being more moist and cooler.August 27, 1856
Hieracium Canadense, apparently in prime, and perhaps H. scabrum. August 27, 1858
Crickets sound much louder after the rain in this cloudy weather. August 27, 1852
Crickets sound much louder after the rain in this cloudy weather. August 27, 1852
See one of the shrilling green alder locusts on the under side of a grape leaf. Its body is about three quarters of an inch or less in length; antennae and all, two inches. August 27, 1860 Lower leaves of the smooth sumach are red. August 27, 1852 Rhus Toxicodendron there is half of it turned scarlet and yellow, as if we had had a severe drought. August 27, 1858 Goodyera pubescens, rattlesnake-plantain, is apparently a little past its prime . . . with its white spike eight to ten inches high on the sloping hillside . . . but the beautifully reticulated leaves . . . about its base are the chief attraction . . . Is it not the prettiest leaf that paves the forest floor? August 27, 1856 The rhexia greets me in bright patches on meadow banks. August 27, 1856 The vervain which I examined by the railroad the other day has still a quarter of an inch to the top of its spikes. August 27, 1851 Hawkweed groundsel (Senecio hieracifolius) (fireweed). August 27, 1851 The first notice I have that grapes are ripening is by the rich scent at evening from my own native vine against the house, when I go to the pump. August 27, 1859 |
There are many wild-looking berries about now. August 27, 1856
I see round-leaved cornel fruit on Heywood Peak, now half China-blue and half white, each berry. August 27, 1858
Elder-berry clusters swell and become heavy and therefore droop, bending the bushes down . . . you see the green cymes perfectly erect, the half-ripe drooping, and the perfectly ripe hanging straight down on the same bush. August 27, 1859
Hips of the early roses are reddening. August 27, 1852
The large depressed globular hips of the moss rose begin to turn scarlet in low ground. August 27, 1856
The peculiar large dark blue indigo clintonia berries of irregular form and dark-spotted, in umbels of four or five on very brittle stems which break with a snap and on erectish stemlets or pedicels. August 27, 1856
Near the clintonia berries, I found the Polygonatum pubescens berries on its handsome leafy stem recurved over the hillside, generally two slaty-blue (but darkgreen beneath the bloom) berries on an axillary peduncle three quarters of an inch long, hanging straight down; eight or nine such peduncles,. . .the berries successively smaller from below upwards August 27, 1856
Then there are the Viburnum dentatum berries, in flattish cymes, dull leadcolored berries, depressed globular, three sixteenths of an inch in diameter, with a mucronation, hard, seedy, dryish, and unpalatable. August 27, 1856
Some Viburnum Lentago berries, turned blue before fairly reddening. August 27, 1854
August 24, 1859 ("The small sempervirens blackberry in prime in one place.")
Some Viburnum Lentago berries, turned blue before fairly reddening. August 27, 1854
The Viburnum Lentago begin to show their handsome red cheeks, rather elliptic-shaped and mucronated, one cheek clear red with a purplish bloom, the other pale green, now. Among the handsomest of berries, one half inch long by three eighths by two eighths, being somewhat flattish. August 27, 1856.
The children have done bringing huckleberries to sell for nearly a week. August 27, 1859
As I go up Pine Hill, gather the shrivelled Vaccinium vacillans berries, many as hard as if dried on a pan. They are very sweet and good, and not wormy like huckleberries. August 27, 1854
Rubus sempervirens, evergreen raspberry, the small low blackberry, is now in fruit. August 27, 1851
Detected a, to me, new kind of high blackberry on the edge of the cliff beyond Conant's wall . . . Berries of good size, globular, of very few, large grains, very glossy, of a lively flavor, when young of a peculiar light pink; sepals less recurved when ripe than those of villous. It is apparently Bigelow’s R. frondosus made a variety by Gray; but see flowers. August 27, 1857
On the 23d I gathered perfectly fresh and large low black-berries, peculiarly sweet and soft, in the shade of the pines at Thrush Alley, long after they are done in open fields. They seem like a different variety from the common, they are so much sweeter, tenderer, and larger. August 27, 1859
The leaves of some young maples in the water about the pond are now quite scarlet, running into dark purple-red. August 27, 1852
Both fishes and plants are clean and bright, like the element they live in. August 27, 1852
I am surprised to see the top of Pine Hill wearing its October aspect, — yellow with changed maples and here and there faintly blushing with changed red maples. August 27, 1854
I think that some summer squashes had turned yellow in our yard a fortnight or more ago. August 27, 1859
I often see yarrow with a delicate pink tint, very distinct from the common pure-white ones. August 27, 1859
Paddle round the pond. Viewed from a hilltop, it is blue in the depths and green in the shallows, but from a boat it is seen to be a uniform dark green. August 27, 1852
Topping corn now reveals the yellowing pumpkins. August 27, 1853.
I often see yarrow with a delicate pink tint, very distinct from the common pure-white ones. August 27, 1859
Paddle round the pond. Viewed from a hilltop, it is blue in the depths and green in the shallows, but from a boat it is seen to be a uniform dark green. August 27, 1852
Both fishes and plants are clean and bright, like the element they live in. August 27, 1852
I think I hear a rising wind rustling the tops of the woods, and, turning, see what I think is the rear of a large flock of pigeons. August 27, 1854
Young partridges two-thirds grown burst away. August 27, 1852
Robins fly in flocks. August 27, 1858
Hear chic-a-day-day-day and crow; but, for music, reduced almost to the winter quire. August 27, 1852
July 13, 1852 ("It is impossible to say what day — almost what week — the huckleberries begin to be ripe, unless you are acquainted with, and daily visit, every huckleberry bush in the town")
July 13, 1852 ("The Polygala sanguinea and P. cruciata in Blister's meadow, both numerous and well out. The last has a fugacious (?) spicy scent, in which, methinks, I detect the scent of nutmegs. Afterward I find that it is the lower part of the stem and root which is most highly scented, like checkerberry, and not fugacious")
July 25, 1854 ("High blackberries, a day or two.")
July 31, 1856 (“How thick the berries — low blackberries, Vaccinium vacillans, and huckleberries — on the side of Fair Haven Hill! ”)
August 3, 1856 ("High blackberries beginning; a few ripe.")
August 3, 1856 ("High blackberries beginning; a few ripe.")
August 4, 1852 (“Most huckleberries and blueberries and low blackberries are in their prime now.”)
August 4, 1856 ("Here and there the high blackberry, just beginning, towers over all. ")
August 4, 1856 ("Here and there the high blackberry, just beginning, towers over all. ")
August 4. 1856 ("This favorable moist weather has expanded some of the huckleberries to the size of bullets")
August 10, 1853 ("August, royal and rich . . .It is glorious to see those great shining high blackberries, now partly ripe ")August 12, 1854 ("It is already the yellowing year.")
August 13, 1854 (“At Thrush Alley, I am surprised to behold how many birch leaves have turned yellow.")
August 13, 1854 (“At Thrush Alley, I am surprised to behold how many birch leaves have turned yellow.")
August 15, 1859 ("Hypericum Canadense, Canadian St. John's-wort, distinguished by its red capsules.")
August 17, 1853 ("The high blackberries are now in their prime; the richest berry we have.”)
August 17,1856 ("Hypericum Canadense well out at 2 p. m."); August 19, 1851 ("Now for the pretty red capsules or pods of the Hypericum Canadense")
August 18, 1853 ("Many leaves of the cultivated cherry are turned yellow, and a very few leaves of the elm have fallen.")
August 18, 1859 ("Half the leaves of some cherries in dry places are quite orange now and ready to fall")
August 19, 1856 ("I see Hypericum Canadense and mutilum abundantly open at 3 P. M.")
August 19, 1856 ("What countless varieties of low blackberries! Here, in this open pine grove, I pluck some large fresh and very sweet ones when they are mostly gone without. So they are continued a little longer to us")
August 20, 1851 ("The flowers of the blue vervain have now nearly reached the summit of their spikes")
;August 20, 1851("The Rhexia Virginica is a showy flower at present.");
August 20, 1856 (“The hillside at Clintonia Swamp is in some parts quite shingled with the rattlesnake-plantain (Goodyera pubescens) leaves overlapping one another. The flower is now apparently in its prime. ”)
August 21, 1852 (“The leaves of the dogsbane are turning yellow”)
August 21, 1852 (“The leaves of the dogsbane are turning yellow”)
August 21, 1851 ("The prevailing conspicuous flowers at present are: . . . Rhexia Virginica, . . . Polygala sanguinea,");
August 21, 1851 ("They are all within about half an inch of the top of the spikes");
August 21, 1853 ("Saw one of those light-green locusts about three quarters of an inch long on a currant leaf in the garden.")
August 21, 1853 ("The Viburnum Lentago berries are but just beginning to redden on one cheek.”)
August 21, 1853 ("The polygonatum berries have been a bluish-green some time.”)
August 21, 1857 ("An abundance of fine high blackberries behind Britton's old camp on the Lincoln road, now in their prime there, which have been overlooked. Is it not our richest fruit?")
August 22, 1852 ("Is not the high blackberry our finest berry?")
August 21, 1857 ("An abundance of fine high blackberries behind Britton's old camp on the Lincoln road, now in their prime there, which have been overlooked. Is it not our richest fruit?")
August 22, 1852 ("Is not the high blackberry our finest berry?")
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 22, 1859 ("The circles of the blue vervain flowers, now risen near to the top, show how far advanced the season")
August 23, 1856 ("Elder-berries, now looking purple, are weighing down the bushes along fences by their abundance.");\
August 23, 1851 ("The Verbena hastata at the pond has reached the top of its spike,. . . only one or two flowers are adhering.");
August 23, 1856 ("Now for high blackberries,")
August 23, 1856 ("On this Lespedeza Stuvei, a green locust an inch and three quarters long")
August 23, 1856 ("Now for high blackberries, though the low are gone.” )
August 23, 1853 ("How handsome now the cymes of Viburnum Lentago berries, flattish with red cheeks!”)
August 23, 1856 ("Now for high blackberries,")
August 23, 1856 ("On this Lespedeza Stuvei, a green locust an inch and three quarters long")
August 23, 1856 ("Now for high blackberries, though the low are gone.” )
August 23, 1853 ("How handsome now the cymes of Viburnum Lentago berries, flattish with red cheeks!”)
August 23, 1858 ("The rhexia in the field west of Clintonia Swamp makes a great show now, though a little past prime")
August 23, 1859 ("The scarlet lower leaves of the choke-berry and some brakes are the handsomest autumnal tints which I see to-day")
August 24, 1851 ("Elderberries are ripe.")
August 25, 1852 ("The fruit of the Viburnum Lentago is now very handsome, with its sessile cymes of large elliptical berries, green on one side and red with a purple bloom on the other or exposed side, not yet purple, blushing on one cheek.”)
August 26, 1860 ("The shrilling of the alder locust is the solder that welds these autumn days together."):
August 26, 1860 ("The shrilling of the alder locust is the solder that welds these autumn days together."):
August 28, 1853 ("The smooth sumach leaves are fast reddening.")
August 28, 1856 (“Low blackberries done, high blackberries still to be had.”)August 28, 1856 ("Huckleberries are about given up")
August 28, 1858 ("The scarlet leaves of the cultivated cherry are seen to have fallen . . . reminding us of October and November.")
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, 1858 ("The scarlet leaves of the cultivated cherry are seen to have fallen . . . reminding us of October and November.")
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 ("The rhexia in Ebby Hubbard's field is considerably past prime, and it is its reddish chalices which show most at a distance now. I should have looked ten days ago. Still it is handsome with its large yellow anthers against clear purple petals. It grows there in large patches with hardhack.")
August 28, 1859 ("Pumpkins begin to be yellow.")
August 29, 1852 (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.")
August 29, 1854 ("The moss rose hips will be quite ripe in a day or two.”)
August 29, 1854 ("The cymes of elder-berries, black with fruit, are now conspicuous.")
August 30, 1853 ("Viburnum Lentago berries are now common and handsome")
August 30, 1853 ("Viburnum Lentago berries are now common and handsome")
August 31, 1853 ("Great black cymes of elder berries now bend down the bushes.")
August 31, 1857 ("An abundance of fine high blackberries behind Britton's old camp on the Lincoln road, now in their prime there, which have been overlooked. Is it not our richest fruit?")
August 31, 1857 ("An abundance of fine high blackberries behind Britton's old camp on the Lincoln road, now in their prime there, which have been overlooked. Is it not our richest fruit?")
August 31, 1858 (“High blackberries are abundant in Britton’s field.
August 31, 1858 ("The birches have lately lost a great many of their lower leaves, which now cover and yellow the ground. Also some chestnut leaves have fallen")August 31, 1858 ("The smooth sumach’s lower leaves are bright-scarlet on dry hills.")
September 1, 1852 ("Viewed from the hilltop, it reflects the color of the sky. Beyond the deep reflecting surface, near the shore, it is a vivid green.")
September 1, 1857 ("High blackberries are still in their prime on Lee's Cliff.")
September 1, 1854 ("The Viburnum Lentago are just fairly begun to have purple cheeks.")
September 4, 1859 ("Topping the corn, which has been going on some days, now reveals the yellow and yellowing pumpkins.")
September 6, 1857 ("I see one of those peculiarly green locusts with long and slender legs on a grass stem, which are often concealed by their color.")
September 7, 1858 ("Farmer calls those Rubus sempervirens berries, now abundant, 'snake blackberries.'")
September 1, 1857 ("High blackberries are still in their prime on Lee's Cliff.")
September 1, 1854 ("The Viburnum Lentago are just fairly begun to have purple cheeks.")
September 4, 1859 ("Topping the corn, which has been going on some days, now reveals the yellow and yellowing pumpkins.")
September 6, 1857 ("I see one of those peculiarly green locusts with long and slender legs on a grass stem, which are often concealed by their color.")
September 7, 1858 ("Farmer calls those Rubus sempervirens berries, now abundant, 'snake blackberries.'")
September 13, 1851("The cross-leaved polygala emits its fragrance as if at will. You are quite sure you smelled it and are ravished with its sweet fragrance, but now it has no smell . . . you can only remember that you once perceived it.")
September 13, 1856 ("The Viburnum Lentago, which I left not half turned red when I went up-country a week ago, are now quite black-purple and shrivelled like raisins on my table, and sweet to taste, though chiefly seed.")
September 18, 1858 ("The earth is yellowing in the September sun.")
September 30, 1857 (“Rhus Toxicodendron turned yellow and red, handsomely dotted with brown.”)
September 18, 1858 ("The earth is yellowing in the September sun.")
September 30, 1857 (“Rhus Toxicodendron turned yellow and red, handsomely dotted with brown.”)
November 12, 1859 ("I do not know how to distinguish between our waking life and a dream. Are we not always living the life that we imagine we are?")
August 27, 2015
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 27
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/HDT27August
