Saturday, October 07, 2006

Well Met on Hill and Field

It's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada north, and I am cooking up a storm this morning. Every scrap of space in the kitchen holds a casserole, a pot, a dish or a bowl of something, and there are several apple pies cooling on a shelf above the stove.

In several hours, the tribe will descend on the little blue house in the village for the annual Thanksgiving dinner. We usually enjoy our feast on Sunday of the Thanksgiving weekend and potter off to the woods together on Thanksgiving Monday, returning late in the day for leftovers, tea and conversation. My grandson is of the opinion that Thanksgiving creations are even better on the second day, and he is enthusiastic about nibbling leftovers tomorrow after several hours in the woods.

By necessity, my time here is limited this morning, and I shall leave you with heartfelt Thanksgiving wishes and two photos taken yesterday on my windswept hill in Lanark.

The first image is probably one of the last Monarch butterflies of the season in the highlands, a gloriously colored female perched in the sunlight and warming her wings for flight - I hope she is preparing herself for migration and will be departing shortly for southern climes. The weather here will be mild for the next week or so, but the nights are chilly, too much so for my favourite butterflies to survive in them.

The second image is a young Whitetail doe who was feeding in the meadow nearby when I opened the gate to the place yesterday. She paused for a moment and looked at me curiously, then up went her white flag of a tail, and she danced away into the safety of the dense cedars at the edge of the field, peering at me from the depths of her sanctuary after she had done so. Like most of the Whitetail Deer in the highlands, she has already taken on (for the most part) the protective coloration of late autumn and the hunting season, and she is wearing deep grey-brown fur rather than her splendid rufous summer togs. Deer in the highlands are nervous and skittish at this time of year and understandably so - the bow hunting season has already begun, the deer rut will start shortly, and local coyote packs are very active this autumn.

Among the many things for which I will be giving thanks this weekend is this community and all of you, but that sentiment is not something which is only expressed once a year - I do it almost every day.

6 comments:

Jennifer S. said...

Thanksgiving in the woods sounds divine. Beautiful butterfly.

Maya's Granny said...

And lovely doe. Have a very rich Thanksgiving.

Anonymous said...

A glorious Thanksgiving to you, Cate. I am also thankful for the blogosphere community. Blessed be.

Anonymous said...

I forgot to say -- I just saw Monarchs myself in California last week. The first one was dancing in a beachside nursery on a brilliant sunny morning in Seal Beach, south of Los Angeles. A few days later we walked through the "butterfly grove" at Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz (south of San Francisco) and were delighted to see a few dozen butterflies swooping through the eucalyptus trees. They must have been the scouts, as hundreds are due to arrive about now. Perhaps your Monarch is now on her way to coastal California.

Lené Gary said...

Sounds like you've had some sweet encounters with more to come. Several of the monarchs were passing my way today. Hope you have a great dinner, full of smiles and love.

Anonymous said...

Cate,

I'm sorry I missed this post. Wishing you a beautiful week of Thanksgiving and the tender joys of sharing food with loved ones - family and friends...

Blessings to your tribe!