Cold Sunshine

It was sunny in the woods early yesterday but cold for starters, the thermometer hovering around freezing even without the icy north wind factored into the occasion. We were warmly dressed for the occasion and had come with a thermos or two of hot tea, but the first wintery hour of leafy pottering was something of an ordeal, and in the beginning, we thought longingly of parkas, heavier gloves, thermal underwear and insulated pack boots.

Perhaps a better descriptive word for these late October days is changeable - within a few hours of our arriving, outdoor temperatures were starting to climb, and when we closed the gate, there were hungry mosquitoes and black flies about. Among the trees and out of the wind, we were snug and comfortable twitteners and gave no thought to winter gear at all.

Most of the maple, beech and hickory leaves on the Two Hundred Acre Wood have already fallen, and every wooded trail was ankle deep in fine rustling textures and bright color yesterday, but high above our heads, the red oaks, tamaracks (larch) and aspen were persevering and holding their own leaves firmly in place - wind or no wind.