Yesterday as I walked out into the garden, I was struck by the beauty of light upon the silky threads of a spider web, in one of the American Cranberry Viburnum. Focusing on the image... I recall the many warps and wefts I made during the eight years of my weaving venture. Truly there is no weft carried between a warp here ... a warp yes ... the spiders body being its own shuttle... its bobbin (spinnerets) filled from within... creating a network of translucent protein fibers... a marvel and this time of year... with fewer birds, I am able to actually see the handiwork or should I say spinneret and feet work of a spider... I hope to never meet. A thoughtful, sustainable sort of creature, who creates an orb web spiraling to a center, and in time may eat the protein rich threads, to recover its nutrients. Its trap is lovely glowing beside the luscious red Viburnum berries. I continued on harvesting images of other fruits... gifts of plants and shrubs scattered about the land. Various Viburnums bear fruit ... dangling like candy but not tempting yet... perhaps not ripe enough. The Aralia Racemosa has now turned from dark burgundy purple to a near black and will disappear in a day... for the Catbirds love these thick clustered berries. The Crabapples are quite fruitful this year... I eyed a Chestnut-sided Warbler in one tree appearing to eye the fruit, but really gleaning for the insects hidden in the leaves. The little bird has caught a green meal it seems.
Later in the day... walking down into the lower garden, I take a few pictures of the apple trees... or tree... as most of our apples are not bearing fruit this year... and decide to take a few minutes to relax in the hammock. There was a good deal of commotion going on with a flock of flickers flying in and out of the Magnolia stellata, just above where I was attempting to rest. I was not able to capture their wild flights of pursuit... of the beauteous bright orange berry fruit the Magnolia offers... but did catch one perching in a neighboring apple tree. I love how plants ready their buds for next springs blossoms... at the same time they evolve leaves into seeds... for food and hopeful young saplings. When I return to my studio, I notice a Black-throated Green Warbler in the Crabapple just outside my door and was lucky to get these shots ... it too is looking for a meal but the tiny apples will hang in wait until the winter, when Wild Turkeys and other birds will feast on them... a helpful meal... in what will be a barren white landscape... but that is off in the distance... a couple of months away at least... with many fall days to reap. There are other berries beckoning birds to take... to eat and spread seeds... red delights on English Hawthorn and Rosa Rugosa and other rose hips with black berries of Cotoneaster... all playing their parts in the metamorphosis of seasons and life.
Often it is a question of black and white, right and wrong, day and night... then sometimes there is a muted blue gray... lying right there in the middle ... in the sky so high and lofty... a place to contemplate a better way. Will we ever find that path that leads to a warmer more just world... warmer in tones of heart-felt and clearer mind-set... not global threat... maybe not... but each year there is a pull towards survival ... for many winged creatures... who know it is time to change course... for if they linger on in the same place... they will not survive... they know it ... sense it ... feel it ... and make ready for the difficult and necessary relocation... migration... a journey long and arduous. As I see silhouettes of geese and ducks... flying by in the sky... I wonder why? Why we too cannot see the need for change ... to see that change is ever present in our world and lives... we cannot step into the same day twice... Heraclitus said it differently... and though rivers and days run by us... we might somehow see a way to step lighter... we do not have to fly away... just make simple changes everyday. Sometimes the truth is hidden... as if behind a veil, or fog, or smog... covering the view, but when an image (as in my first photo) is enlarged... most often the mountain of truth stands... as it always has... slightly harder to see... to comprehend. We always need to ask... what guides a mind... to follow a certain path. I find joy in a new bird sighting... this little Black-throated Blue Warbler graces my day... though it will not stay... I am grateful for the glance... for our brief chance meeting. He will be off to the West Indies soon. All the images today were taken within about a half hour of each other a few days ago. First with a gray foggy sunrise... geese fly over the Mount Holyoke Range ... then nearly right away mystery ducks fly overhead... not far from my perch at the barn studio doors... right away again... a parade it seems ... not shown here several large black crows eclipse the sun and I say why not... snapping what I think to be silhouette of crow... but what is it? Buteo chasing crow... it is most often the other way around... now there is a surprise... but then ... another change ... Why Not? Enough from those pesky crows... I say ... about time! 'White Moth' hydrangea does not seem to mind the time... it simply will not stop creating new blooms... little moths fluttering along with lovely silhouette of duck and geese ballet. 
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