Chestnuts

December 9

December 9, 2022

Those little ruby-crowned wrens (?) still about. They suddenly dash away from this side to that in flocks, with a tumultuous note, half jingle, half rattle, like nuts shaken in a bag, or a bushel of nutshells, soon returning to the tree they had forsaken on some alarm. They are oftenest seen on the white birch, apparently feeding on its seeds, scattering the scales about. 

A fresh dandelion.

The chestnuts are almost as plenty as ever, both in the fallen burs and out of them. There are more this year than the squirrels can consume. I pick three pints this afternoon, still plump and tender. I love to gather them, if only for the sense of the bountifulness of nature they give me.

A few petals of the witch-hazel still hold on. 

A man tells me he saw a violet to-day.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, December 9, 1852

Those little ruby-crowned wrens (?) still about. See November 21, 1852 ("The commonest bird I see and hear nowadays is that little red crowned or fronted bird I described the 13th. I hear now more music from them. They have a mewing note which reminds me of a canary-bird. They make very good forerunners of winter."); December 19, 1854 ("A large flock of Fringilla linaria over the meadow. . . . Common as they are now, and were winter before last , I saw none last winter.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Lesser Redpoll

The chestnuts are almost as plenty as ever, both in the fallen burs and out of them. See November 28, 1856 ("Unexpectedly find many chestnuts in the burs which have fallen some time ago. ")

A few petals of the witch-hazel still hold on. See October 20, 1852 ("The witch-hazel is bare of all but flowers"); October 23, 1852 ("The sprays of the witch-hazel are sprinkled on the air, and recurved."); November 4, 1852 ("Saw witch-hazels out of bloom, some still fresh:); November 15, 1853 (" Take up a witch-hazel with still some fresh blossoms."); November 24, 1859 ("At Spanish Brook Path, the witch-hazel (one flower) lingers. "); December 19, 1850 ("The witch-hazel is covered with fruit and drops over gracefully like a willow, the yellow foundation of its flowers still remaining.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Witch-Hazel

A man tells me he saw a violet to-day. See December 12, 1852 ("Saw a violet on the C. Miles road where the bank had been burned in the fall.")

Indian Summer

December 7. 

Perhaps the warmest day yet. True Indian summer. The walker perspires. 

The shepherd's-purse is in full bloom; the andromeda not turned red.

Saw a pile of snow-fleas in a rut in the wood-path, six or seven inches long and three quarters of an inch high, to the eye exactly like powder, as if a sportsman had spilled it from his flask; and when a stick was passed through the living and skipping mass, each side of the furrow preserved its edge as in powder.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, December 7, 1852

The shepherd's-purse is in full bloom. See November 3, 1852 (“Shepherd's-purse abundant still in gardens.”); November 5, 1855 (“I see the shepherd’s-purse, hedge-mustard, and red clover, — November flowers. ”)

The andromeda not turned red. See December 21, 1856 ("How interesting and wholesome their color now! A broad level thick stuff, without a crevice in it, composed of the dull brown-red andromeda. Is it not the most uniform and deepest red that covers a large surface now?")

Saw a pile of snow-fleas in a rut in the wood-path to the eye exactly like powder, as if a sportsman had spilled it from his flask. See December 16, 1850 ("The snow everywhere is covered with snow-fleas like pepper. . . .They look like some powder which the hunter has spilled in the path. ") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Snow-flea

Cobwebs

December 6.

Though foul weather yesterday, this is the warmest and pleasantest day yet.

Cows are turned out to pasture again. 

On the Corner causeway fine cobwebs glimmer in the air, covering the willow twigs and the road, and sometimes stretching from side to side above my head. 

I see many little gnat-like insects in the air there.  

Tansy still fresh, and I saw autumnal dandelion a few days since.

In the evening I see the spearer's light on the river.

A great slate-colored hawk sails away from the Cliffs.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, December 6, 1852

This is the warmest and pleasantest day yet.  See May 6, 1857 ("A beautiful and warm day."); December 10, 1853 ("These are among the finest days in the year"); December 10, 1856 ("A warm, clear, glorious winter day.") See also December 5, 1856 ("I have never got over my surprise that I should have been born into the most estimable place in all the world, and in the very nick of time, too ") and A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The world can never be more beautiful than now.

Cows are turned out to pasture again. See December 8, 1850 ("A week ago I saw cows being driven home from pasture. Now they are kept at home.")

Fine cobwebs glimmer in the air . . . sometimes stretching from side to side above my head. See November 1, 1851 ("It is a remarkable day for fine gossamer cobwebs . . . They have the effect of a shimmer in the air . . . the effect of a drifting storm of light."); October 20, 1858 ("Flocks of this gossamer, like tangled skeins, float gently through the quiet air as high as my head, like white parachutes to unseen balloons.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Gossamer Days

I see many little gnat-like insects in the air there. See A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Fuzzy Gnats (tipulidæ)

Tansy still fresh, and I saw autumnal dandelion a few days since. See November 12, 1853 ("Tansy is very fresh still in some places"); November 23, 1852 ("Among the flowers which may be put down as lasting thus far, as I remember, in the order of their hardiness: yarrow, tansy (these very fresh and common), cerastium, autumnal dandelion, dandelion, and perhaps tall buttercup, etc., the last four scarce."); December 12, 1852 ("Tansy still fresh yellow by the Corner Bridge.")

In the evening I see the spearer's light on the river. See October 16, 1851 ("To-night the spearers are out again."); November 15, 1855 ("The river rising. I see a spearer’s light to-night.")

A great slate-colored hawk sails away from the Cliffs. See December 31, 1859 ("Do I ever see a small hawk in winter ?"); December 7, 1858 ("Dr. Bryant. . . says Cooper’s hawk is just like the sharp-shinned, only a little larger commonly. He could not tell them apart")

Suddenly cold last night.

December 9.

The river and Fair Haven Pond froze over generally last night, though they were only frozen along the edges yesterday. This is unusually sudden.

The air being very quiet and serene, I observe at mid-afternoon that peculiarly softened western sky, which perhaps is seen commonly after the first snow has covered the earth. 

There is just enough invisible vapor, perhaps from the snow, to soften the blue, giving it a slight greenish tinge.

Methinks it often happens that as the weather is harder the sky seems softer.

H.D. Thoreau, Journal, December 9, 1859

The river and Fair Haven Pond froze over generally last night, . . .. This is unusually sudden. See November 21, 1852  ("I am surprised this afternoon to find the river skimmed over in some places, and Fair Haven Pond one-third frozen or skimmed over”); November 23, 1852("I am surprised to see Fair Haven entirely skimmed over”): November 30, 1855 (“Got in my boat. River remained iced over all day. ”); December 5, 1853("The river frozen over thinly in most places . . . Fair Haven Pond is skimmed completely over."); December 5, 1856 ('The river is well skimmed over in most places, though it will not bear, — wherever there is least current, as in broad places, or where there is least wind, . .  “);   December 7, 1856 ("The pond must have been frozen by the 4th at least. . . .The ice appears to be but three or four inches thick); December 11, 1854 ("C. says he found Fair Haven frozen over last Friday, i. e. the 8th.");  December 13, 1850 ("The river froze over last night, — skimmed over. “); December 13, 1859 (“Now that the river is frozen we have a sky under our feet also. ”); December 19, 1856 (“Last night was so cold that the river closed up almost everywhere, and made good skating where there had been no ice to catch the snow of the night before.”); December 20, 1854 (“All of the river that was not frozen before, and therefore not covered with snow on the 18th, is now frozen quite smoothly;”); December 21, 1855 ("I here take to the riverside. The broader places are frozen over, but I do not trust them yet. Fair Haven is entirely frozen over, probably some days"); December 21, 1857 (" Walden and Fair Haven,. . .have only frozen just enough to bear me, “)  See also A Book of Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, First Ice

I observe at mid-afternoon that peculiarly softened western sky, . . .giving it a slight greenish tinge. See December 11, 1854 ("It is but mid-afternoon when I see the sun setting far through the woods, and there is that peculiar clear vitreous greenish sky in the west, as it were a molten gem."); December 20, 1854 ("The sky in the eastern horizon has that same greenish-vitreous, gem-like appearance which it has at sundown, . . ."). See also A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, the Western Sky

Dec. 9. Suddenly cold last night. The river and Fair Haven Pond froze over generally (I see no opening as I walk) last night, though they were only frozen along the edges yesterday. This is unusually sudden. 

How prominent the late or fall flowers are, now withered above the snow, — the goldenrods and asters, Roman wormwood, etc., etc.! These late ones have a sort of life extended into winter, hung with icy jewelry.

 I observe at mid-afternoon, the air being very quiet and serene, that peculiarly softened western sky, which perhaps is seen commonly after the first snow has covered the earth. There are many whitish filmy clouds a third of the way to the zenith, generally long and narrow, parallel with the horizon, with indistinct edges, alternating with the blue. And there is just enough invisible vapor, perhaps from the snow, to soften the blue, giving it a slight greenish tinge. Thus, methinks, it often happens that as the weather is harder the sky seems softer. It is not a cold, hard, glittering sky, but a warm, soft, filmy one.