Angmar
Japanese maple( Acer palmatum ) before turnAngmar
What I believe they mean to me is,
they are my connection to the natural world…..
(THIS IS THE FIRST POST I EVER SHARED ON DAILY KOS IN 2016. IT’S STILL AS RELEVANT AS EVER):
A Personal Essay on Climate Change
+ Open thread
On subjects of relation to this topic
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September 1st,
was considered the first day of
meteorological Fall.
leaves dk images library Uploaded to DailyKos by Desert Scientist
The seasons, and what they mean to us:
Relating one’s ideas of what constitutes seasons, to us…
Our memories, impressions, what images, and other physical things, like leaves or clouds, smoke or smells, evoke, for instance
Fall
to us….(or Spring…or Winter etc)
I’m hoping it will encourage you to share your reminiscences
upon this topic. And all things which you relate to it.
Especially now, with the accelerating Climate change.
(Admittedly it’s probably maybe mostly for those more garden-and-nature-minded amongst us….I also realize not everyone, of course experiences all four seasons….)
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Autumn.
The season of the year that is the transition period from summer to winter, occurring as the sun approaches the winter solstice. Meteorological autumn
(different from standard/astronomical autumn)
begins September 1 and ends November 30.
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Meteorological Autumn www.google.com/…
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Something I always kind of felt anyway, living in the Northeast.
Sept 1st, like a switch being thrown, was always cooler.
(Pre climate-change ,of course, sadly)
Which is part of my point —
I miss the weather.
After this last horrible summer,
dying for Fall to come,
It got me thinking about seasons.
And:
are there even four distinct seasons
anymore, even in cooler zones?
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As for me, …as far as climate goes,
I’ve lived in the Northeast almost my entire life.
I loved the weather here. I loved the hugely snowy winters,
Back when we could make actual snow tunnels in our front yard it was so high….
The late February evenings, looking up at the sky, when the solid white skies of winter finally started to break up, the clouds looked curdled, and you could see stars through the break in them, behind…. That’s when you knew spring was coming. Icy nights filled with stars on a black background, before such intense light pollution. And the white landscapes below…
And the different angles of the rising sun and moon:
Moonrise (used with the permission of the photographer)Angmar
There was the February thaw:
A false spring or unusually warm spell of weather in winter, similar to an Indian summer
-Wiki Strawberry Spring
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which came every year. It was round mid-February.
Stephen King mentions it in his short story.
My mom said to us ” this happened back I was a child. “
I found that very interesting, and comforting.
The thaw was amazing,
there had been so much snow, and then it got suddenly milder, and everything was little lakes, and rivers and streams, everywhere…. Suddenly you lived in a different place.
Later, seeing the aconite coming up through the snow, late winter’s first flower.
Playwright Peter Gill described the melted spots as looking like big animals had lain in them. That strongly resonated with my memory of them….
Old leaves encrusted with ice and the plant inside:
www.alamy.com/…Angmar
The rain started in April,
And I loved the rainy springs…. rain and thunder and lightning were so cool and exciting. It doesn’t seem to rain much any more. There’s flooding happening in some places, but New York is dry, now, alot. Dry grass in june, burnt and brown. Like we only saw in the worst of August heat…
Spring/ Summer
May: large puffy white Cumulous clouds. All of the bulbs in flower, one type and another.
Crocus, narcissis, tulip, grape hyacinth…
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I loved the slow cool buildup of warmer weather, towards June, which was often also quite cool, and often sometimes rainy.
It was quite often damp, with rainy-humid nights, everything felt sticky, but not hot….. Walking round at night, toads would hop across the street, during little warmish rainstorms. Giant toads would invade the yard, and sometimes the dogs would end up biting them, and foam, and have to go to the vet because they’re apparently quite toxic to dogs…. I remember the vet telling us there were several dogs that came in every summer with toad ingestions.
I loved the incredible downpours. I’ve walked in them.
It was like walking in a river.
And the fogs…….
Summers were milder pre-global warming.
Springs were longer.
Now bulbs are gone next day, blighted often by unseasonal heat.
(Though of course global warming has been going on since there was industrialization and probably of course ever since there were humans on the planet, as cattle and farming and cities effect the climate):
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Fall
(Walking at night, recently, before it cooled down a bit, I tried to conjure up Autumn, by memories…)
I remembered green oak leaves floating on wet streets with a chill in the air, as September. It looked a bit like summer, still, but cooler, and the light looked different.
Smoky smells smoky burning leaves crisp air storm clouds cold dew on the ground sometimes frost, darkness early. The days are drawing in.
Winter
It wasn’t till I was older that I realized there was such a thing as low Winter Sun. Because we never seemed to see the sun, in NE Winters… It seemed to become like a snow globe white sky white ground. I’m sure that’s not entirely correct, but that’s my memory….I remember walking home from school as a child,and it was like Kubrick’s The Shining. A total ice-world…. The snow banks were so high,and the streets could be used to pull our sleds on.
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(Actually, I’d like to start a group here on daily kos called weather whingers or something, where people could bitch about the weather. I think that would be a great idea in these times of global warming! And it’s so fun…):
” A whinge”
(h)winj BRITISHinformal verb gerund or present participle: whinging
complain persistently and in a peevish or irritating way.“stop whingeing and get on with it!”late Old English hwinsian, of Germanic origin; related to German winseln ; compare with whine.www.google.com/…
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“About five years ago, I was sitting watching a PBS tv show, on nature, or something….. The gist of it was they were showing birds feeding in a snowstorm at the feeder in the backyard. As I watched it, I thought to myself: I want to live there, i want that . That looks ideal. Gee I wonder where it is, Canada, New England?
Of course it turned out to be New York State. And even probably local. How ironic. Thinking about it later I realized I hadn’t seen that in such a long time. …And yet I realized I had seen it practically everyday of my life in winter as a child.…
I simply didn’t realize I’d lost it.”
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open-window.typepad.com/…Angmar
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Global Warming has been insidious.
Not so much anymore.
And of course, the ultimate fallout from GW will be way beyond
Elegiac sadness and longing for a now past, planet Earth.
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(I admit I’ve become rather obsessed by the weather this year…
Weird as that might sound.I’ve always found stormy weather fascinating,
with its sometimes hugely intense rainy downpours, lightning, and high winds.
I’ve lately taken to watching storm chasers on YouTube now, too.)
Which is seriously cool:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z2OtHEt7Qk4%3Ffeature%3Doembed
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I’ve also taken to haunting the weather channel, any news story about weather, weather reports in general, all my apps, and of course all Kos threads about climate change, or anything nature related.
And there are some beautiful, artistic YouTube videos, about weather:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=jyjiFWkUigs%3Ffeature%3Doembed
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There are also these videos:
Which feature aspects of the seasons
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See also
(Astronomical Fall):
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Evocative, to the writer
Among The Rocks
Oh, good gigantic smile o’ the brown old earth, This autumn morning! How he sets his bones To bask i’ the sun, and thrusts out knees and feet For the ripple to run over in its mirth; Listening the while, where on the heap of stones The white breast of the sea-lark twitters sweet. That is the doctrine, simple, ancient, true; Such is life’s trial, as old earth smiles and knows. If you loved only what were worth your love, Love were clear gain, and wholly well for you: Make the low nature better by your throes! Give earth yourself, go up for gain above!
pajunen.deviantart.com/…Angmar
SEASONAL POETRY
The Ones That Disappeared Are Back by Emily Dickinson
www.enjoyart.com/…Angmar
The ones that disappeared are back The Phoebe and the Crow Precisely as in March is heard The curtness of the Jay — Be this an Autumn or a Spring My wisdom loses way One side of me the nuts are ripe The other side is May.
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www.shutterstock.com/…Angmar
The Song of Wandering Aengus I went out to the hazel wood, Because a fire was in my head, And cut and peeled a hazel wand, And hooked a berry to a thread; And when white moths were on the wing, And moth-like stars were flickering out, I dropped the berry in a stream And caught a little silver trout. When I had laid it on the floor I went to blow the fire aflame, But something rustled on the floor, And some one called me by my name: It had become a glimmering girl With apple blossom in her hair Who called me by my name and ran And faded through the brightening air. Though I am old with wandering Through hollow lands and hilly lands, I will find out where she has gone, And kiss her lips and take her hands; And walk among long dappled grass, And pluck till time and times are done The silver apples of the moon, The golden apples of the sun. William Butler Yeats
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www.savetherain.orgAngmar
The day is cold,
and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the
mouldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark
and dreary.
My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
And the days are dark and dreary.
Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.
. The Rainy Day .
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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wtcampaigns.wordpress.com/…Angmar
A year has come to us as though out of hiding
It has arrived from an unknown distance
From beyond the visions of the old
Everyone waited for it by the wrong roads
And it is hard for us now to be sure it is here
A stranger to nothing
In our hiding places
W.S. Merwin, “Early January”
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(Thank you for reading my first foray,
here,except for the other three in the process… )
Readers and Book Lovers later in September
-Agmar September 2016
v*v
www.dreamstime.coAngmar
Tags:
Environment Science GlobalWarming Wildlife Ecology BackyardScience
Seasons Poetry Memories Nature Autumn climate
climatechange regional reminiscences philosophy trees horticulture gardening/gardens childhood Green planet
Life and Death Planet Earth
THANKS FOR READING THE CLIMATE CHANGE ANXIETY SUPPORT GROUP ON DK.