Blog–8/12/21 Hideaway Pond hideawaypond.com
Steamy. Hot and steamy. It’s mid-August. And except for an occasional rain-soaked outburst of wind, it’s been that way for a month.
It’s a mildly melancholy season. Summer settled in during late June. And, for all of her beauty, she’s beginning to take on an ambiance of quiet weariness. One can almost sense Autumn’s cool zephyrs in the far, far distance. The birds have completed their annual launch of a new family into the sunbaked skies. Cicadas sing in the trees–the ominous harbinger, during my wayward boyhood, of the impending conversion from bare feet to books. The pond warms and the fish grow more lethargic. Dragonflies hum on. And on.
Yet, for all of that, the Hideaway has been a busy place. Small critters–woodchucks, chipmunks, squirrels, field mice scurry about doing their usual business. Oblivious of the heat or the month. Shari’s “Bunny”, so called, though he’s now mature, very adroit, and quite a raconteur as “bunnies” go–includes himself in the ruckus. .
Our three neighborhood does were joined last evening by a young “spike” buck. Though they ignored each other, they shared the bright red wardrobe of summer. As will be the case until they begin to change to their winter gray in mid-Autumn. The does grazed quietly at their usual evening haunt near the ledge. The buck waded as he grazed at the pond edge near the porch. They all faded into the darkness as the sun set.
A great blue heron has visited daily. He flies from location to location. The pond edge to the island and back. He’ll do little to reduce our piscatorial inventory. The grass carp are too large and the bass too many to suffer major damage.
I’m betting that few readers of this blog have heard the cry of a wild great blue heron.
For those who have–or have not–voila’.
A waxing crescent moon will soar over the Catskills tonight. This time it will share the sky with a special guest. The Perseid Meteor Shower at its peak. They have shared the ancient night skies for billions of years. And will do so for billions more. This small moon and the cosmos.
Starry Starry Night
