Fall is here

The leaves have finally started to change color in earnest.  I had to smile ruefully when I spotted a "leaf peeper" bus a week or so ago.  They definitely picked the wrong week.  The weather over the last month has been a study in contrasts.  Cool with heavy rain, but then the sun comes out and the temperature rises quite high (up to the 80s sometimes).  Incy-wincy spider weather in fact.  Today we experienced the lowest temperature for a while (43) while back on 9/25 the high was 88.  In the photo (above) of the Greenough pond, you can see the mist rising from the water as the day began to warm up. And if you look very carefully, you may see a Great Blue Heron perched on top of a wood-duck nestbox (the left and further one of the two).

I'm so glad they got those miners out in Chile (actually they're still working on it)!  69 days, 690 metres underground!  Amazing.

The day I began this blog, a week or so ago, I noticed the phoebes were back.  I'm not sure where they'd been the previous couple of months: perhaps I just hadn't noticed them.  In any event, they'll be fattening up for the migration South.  I noticed something particular about their endearing habit of wagging their tail.  It seems to coincide always with a rotation of the head.  In this light it appears to be a reflex reaction.  More research is going to be required, as Sibley has nothing to say on the physiology or motives of the behavior.

Meanwhile, the tomatoes have stopped ripening.  Guess it's going to be fried green tomatoes for us!  Why is it that however smart we think we are, we always have to make mistakes before we can learn.  In this case, I neglected the tomato plants and, after pinching off the suckers early, I've not continued that through the summer.  Result: lots of branches, lots of (green) tomatoes.  Not much fruit available for good eating for about four weeks or so now.

Hands up those of us who are bothered, nay infuriated, by the modern trend of bringing smelly food into confined spaces such as trains, planes, bridge clubs, offices, theatres, etc.  It's part of the general reversion to selfishness that is all too prevalent among the younger set, rant, rant...  I heard a story from my mother the other day that made me realize why we have to suffer this now.  It's because of "fast food" outlets.  Back in the day when you had to go on a long journey and might not have food available (or it might be too expensive), you took sandwiches.  By definition, sandwiches are cold.  Yes, I know the American food industry has revised the meaning of the term to include hamburgers and the like, but in the original form, named after the Earl of Sandwich, it was cold meat positioned between two slices of bread.  This is what legions of commuters have taken to work for maybe a hundred years.

Anyway, my mother's story made me suddenly realize that it's the temperature of the food that is the essential issue.  As we know, the speed of chemical reactions increases with temperature according to the Arrhenius equation and I'm sure that this same equation relates to the energy levels (and velocity) of the molecules which cause food aromas (note the use of the word aroma: the Italians very sensibly have two words for smell, one for good: aroma, one for bad: odore).  But note also that soon after it's introduced, an aroma can become an odor.  Life is cool so as long as people bring cold food into confined spaces, or if we are all eating the same thing at the same time (as on a plane, at least in days gone by when they served food on planes) or, to some extent, in a restaurant where even if we aren't eating the same thing, at least we're eating or about to eat.  These are acceptable situations.

But when we are not eating (maybe we are actually hungry) and someone else brings hot food near us, then it's very anti-social. My pet peeve is microwave popcorn.  Ycch!   End of rant.

We went with Miranda and one of Kim's friends to see David Sedaris on tour in Worcester.  We had a great dinner beforehand but left our getaway a little late and arrived at the theater exactly at show time.  It took me 20 minutes to park and join my fellows inside.  He was funny. But not quite as funny as I was expecting. He didn't read for very long.  I thought he was about to take a break when he said "Thanks for coming."  Apparently he now lives near my old stomping ground in West Sussex (UK).  Although I do enjoy his stories, his earthy/bathroom style can be a little embarrassing to sensitive souls and there's no doubt that it is not the kind of humor appreciated by either my mother or my mother-in-law.  Let them be warned: the following may not be suitable reading - now would be a very good time to quit.

I suspect he may have been reading Chaucer lately, in particular the Summoner's tale in which the summoner pokes fun at the Friar.  A Friar dies and ends up in hell whereupon the devil claims to have "in his arse" no fewer than twenty thousand friars that apparently can come and go at will.  In Sedaris' new story, the Friar is a Great Horned Owl, the Devil is a Hippopotamus at the zoo (Sedaris uses the term rectum) and the friars are leeches. Now, is that plagiarism according to the modern obsession?  Or it just one writer showing his respect for another?