Progress Monitoring: Fall’s Failing.
There. Behind the green. Hide and seek in whimsy or warning of sneak attack? ©
Don’t know what this looks like to you, but it’s got me worried.
Not fallen by wind storm flailings. And, as St. Augustine grass knows, it’s not due to drought this year.
Fall leaves now? So wrong.
The evidence. Dropped by an E.T? ©
It’s the semi-tropics here.
Currently, there’s hummingbirds, Monarchs, and hawks squinting overhead.
Putting together a fall wardrobe means packing up the short sleeve tropical t-shirts and getting out the autumn-colored short sleeve t-shirts. Add some nice dark brown or black flip-flops
Teachers search for pictures of New England’s Fall blazes of reds and oranges or Aspen’s shimmering golden trees to show students what the textbooks are referring to with “Autumn colors”.
Seasonally deprived.
Cool-ish around Christmas, maybe.
DECEMBER 17,2011.Happy dance! Cool enough for long sleeves…atleast until noon.©
When that first real cold front finally does arrives, there’s a brilliant change overnight.
Makes everyone giddy.
Able to skip gleefully down leaf covered sidewalks only a few days before Christmas.
Merry and bright. Nothing to slow down any reindeer’s deliveries here.
Pretty on DECEMBER 22.2013 Red coordinates nicely with festive holiday lights.©
So what’s the deal with the sidewalk scene last week?
Spill it. “Punked”, right?
An eco-friendly version of house toilet papering initiations by high school band kids? (Everyone is encouraged to be “green” now. Kids are early adopters.)
Some teacher or librarian dropped her bulletin board materials?
Did Hansel run out of pebbles or bread crumbs to drop while marking the route home?
What? Odd. Very odd. Whatever does this mean? SEPTEMBER 4,2014.©
A joke? A cosmic one, perhaps.
It’s a worry.
You know how the stores have been flinging sequential seasonal merchandise rapid fire into aisles faster than fearless toddlers going down a playground slide?
What if Mother Nature took note?
“You want the seasons all jammed together and rushed? Fine. Will be happy to provide weather appropriate for the merchandise. Enjoy.”
The 2015 Farmer’s Almanac’s winter predictions are out for Canada and the U.S.
These forecasts are based on the Almanac’s founder’s “secret formula”, temperature and precipitation records for the past 30 years, and measurements of current sunspot activity.
Curious what their 2015 Long-range Forecast for your area is? Click here.
Contingency plans for tropical potted plants appear to be a good idea.
Maybe there’s hope Molly will actually retain the majority of dog hair on her body rather than sharing it with guests and hallways….small hope.
Leafing any other conclusions up to you.
Phil, the Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge
Kick them off and ignore? Could lead to an F- in Seasonal Studies. ©
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23 Comments
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Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge 
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See – it’s some odd plot…maybe garden elves out with spray paint at night. Good excuse to buy that GoPro camera I want. Thanks for leafing a comment
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We are starting to see the occasional leaf lying around. We have a birch tree which loses it’s leaves early and that has started. Just glad I haven’t seen Christmas decorations yet.
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Oddly, it’s the tallest crepe myrtles turning, so there must be a change in the “upper level” air or the squirrels are decorating early this year. Thanks for raking in a comment
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It’s a trick. Someone has been putting leaves in their freezer and then, when they turn color, distributing them in the neighborhood after dark. That would be quite a funny scenario. I say put RC cat and Molly (and the German if available) on the case and have them solve the mystery.. They will get to the root of it. They won’t leave a leaf unturned. No matter where the case branches they will follow. This is such a colourful story. No telling into which corners and crevices this case will blow.
Please keep us updated Phil on the progress in this forest of uncertainty. The outcome shall be most interesting. I cannot, in good conscience, leavethis topic until my curiouslty is quenched. .
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Certainly opening a case of worms could dig out the truth. Molly’s all paws for digging around. She plans to ask RC to be on high alert and watch the upper level branches. If anything’s on the wind, they’ll sniff it out. Thanks for the operational plan (and the giggles)
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Well here we seem to have missed spring and sprung direct to summer….
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Now that just doesn’t seem quite fair. No cutting in line, seasons. Wait your turns!
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Yikes. Luckily I haven’t seen any fall leaves here yet. As much as I love them (and I do), I’m not ready for them yet!
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OK. This does it. Some weird this way comes. (apologies to Bradbury) Perhaps some calculated ploy by homeless plants and animals to trick their way into a vacancy?(Am I considered that gullible…do not answer…but am going to check to see if Home Depot has been selling red spray paint…) Thanks for falling in with a comment
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Oh, oh, Phi,l talking about spray painting nature, I gotta tell you this funny. I mentioned in the comments of Red Stars that we had gone to visit with the Canadian Embassy in Beijing. Well the attache for business development met with us and in the process told us a few stories. The Chinese government is very very sensitive about apprearances and they had hosted the Olympic selection committee prior to our visit. This was when they were being vetted for the summer Olympics that they eventually hosted. They wanted everything to look perfect for the visit, so when the route to the meetings was formalized, they realized that it went through a residential area that was quite run down. So they dispatched painters and they painted and spruced up the front and sides of all the houses (not the rear) on the gov’ts dime. They did not have time to grow new grass or get sod in place, so they painted all the lawns green. Ha! Streets of painted lawns. Apparently it worked. Ha!
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Interesting. Wonder what’s up with your early fall leaves? Makes me feel like our leaves up here are behind schedule, being willfully lazy, holding onto tree branches like a bunch of slackers. Strange days, indeed.
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It’s not massive changes yet, but many of the “fall color” plants have a bit of gold or red if you look. Garden elves over heard my moaning “when will the heat stop” and “fall can’t come too soon”? (Must tell Molly not to tell everyone everything that goes on around here…) Thanks for shaking the trees for a comment
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Remarkably, New England hasn’t see much in the way of color yet though regardless of how brilliant, the nay-sayers will insist it was too warm/cold/dry/wet for truly good fall foliage. They make the same forecast for the maple sugar season…
Everyone already used up all the really good “leaf” puns…
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Feeling leafed out? The red leaves seem to be back in hiding with some yellow and orange ones. And the taller crepe myrtles seem to beginning to turn while the shorter ones are not. The tallow trees ( our normal fall color trees – a non-native are still emerald. We’ll see after this weekend. Glad it’s going below 80 degrees at night now. Early morning dog walks much more pleasant. Maple syrup sounds really good – we used to get maple candy when we lived in Massachusetts. Never had better!
Thanks for sweeping over a comment
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Weather-wise, worldwide it seems to be take each day as it comes, expect the unexpected… alright for us with a variable wardrobe but throws the trees’ schedules into disarray.
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Love your observation – it must be very difficult for trees. Once they toss their leaves, it’s to late to recover them if it warms back up. I can just imagine the conversations between them as trees and plants try to guess. Thanks for leafing a comment
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i’m here to cheer on Molly…keep on your fur coat dear. nothing like giving away all that fur for free. make them pay you for the luxurious carpet you lay down every season. 🙂 rah!
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More like every morning…she must have been confused thinking “more hair” when she heard “Mohair”. Always the helper. Paw waves and romps sent. Thanks for shedding a comemnt
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Wow, it is a bit early for falling leaves- and so many of them, too!
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Philmouse, maybe we skipped Summer this year and is Molly ready for Winter 😀 Pawkisses 🙂
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Molly is dancing while waiting for cooler weather – she’s ready to run, but meanwhile sprawling on her back under the fan passes the time. Paw waves!
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Remarkable post !. I enjoyed your musings regarding seasons and natural cycles
Thanks a lot for sharing!, best wishes, Aquileana 😀
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