It was quiet around the lake this week, in more ways than one. November arrived right on schedule by exchanging the warm weather of the past few weeks with a strong nor'easter that left much of the area without power - a 68 mph wind gust was recorded in Meredith. It was eerily quiet for much of Monday until you went by a house with a generator running. About 60% of Meredith lost power, many for 24 hours; Moultonborough and Gilford were especially hard hit with upwards of 90% in the dark, some for over five days. And yes, it looked like November.
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| Tall Meadow Rue (?) |
I wish I had paid more attention to this plant in the summer so I would know for sure what it is, but I think it's Tall Meadow Rue. It looks like a good choice for fall and winter decorating.
Fog, mist and rain was the theme of the week, though there is always beauty to be seen at every juncture in life.
And there is still some color in the world, shining even brighter against the drab of early November.
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| A few brave maple leaves hang on |
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| Winterberry along a Marsh by Sheep Island |
It was also a quiet week for nature. I saw only a few mallards and Canada geese on the lake, though I did have a pileated woodpecker fly in front of me one foggy day. It wasn't as startling as last week's owl, but just as beautiful to see.
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| Pileated woodpecker in flight |
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| Visiting Mallards, still evading the hunters |
And I haven't seen a deer in weeks; maybe they know archery and muzzleloader hunting is underway, with rifle season starting on Tuesday (remember to wear your orange in the woods).
I see many old, shriveled up mushrooms on the forest floor now, which I often mistake for animal scat at first, so I was surprised to see one last fresh mushroom making a last stab at life.
I can appreciate the subtle beauty of the season now, in early November; we'll see how I feel about it in the middle December if we haven't gotten any snow to brighten things up by then.
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| A foggy farm along Meredith Center Road |
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