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Poor Will's Almanack: Sept. 17 - 23

Acer saccharum (sugar maple trees in fall colors) (Newark campus of Ohio State University, Newark, Ohio, USA) (17 October 2014)
Contributed

Henry David Thoreau sets the tone for my September.

"What means this sense of lateness that so comes over one now, " he asks. "The night of the year is approaching. ... How early in the year it begins to be late!"

So it's that time of year again for me. I am not a friend of closure or of the end of things.

This past summer, I sat in my back yard more often than usual, watching, listening, trying to absorb as much as possible of the remaining days. Well, I did that with the spring's tulips, too, and the daffodils. I spent a lot of time with the crocuses.

I listened more closely to the early morning robins and to the field crickets and the tree frogs that seemed especially loud this year.

I counted day lilies again this summer, then the canna lilies, hungry for their color. I paid attention to falling leaves, especially the river birch leaves that came down in June.

I studied the seed catalogs early, planning more and more flowers to crowd into the spaces that are already overrun with weeds and flowers that I can't take enough care of.

I have filled the lawn with plants, with hostas and raspberries and zinnias and. I have measured the height of my cup plants ten feet ... and the specimin wild lettuce, glad for their giant size. twlve feet nine inches

I could not get enough. And then Henry David
reminds me now late it is. and I am planning to watch more closely.

Maybe I will count leaves again like I did a few years ago. Maybe I will not let go, continue to deny and deny.

This is Bill Felker with Poor Will’s Almanack. I’ll be back again next week with more notes on the seasons.

Bill Felker has been writing nature columns and almanacs for regional and national publications since 1984. His Poor Will’s Almanack has appeared as an annual publication since 2003. His organization of weather patterns and phenology (what happens when in nature) offers a unique structure for understanding the repeating rhythms of the year.