Category Archives: Seasons

Mesmerizing Maples

. Acción de Gracias, Education, Family, Learning, Nanny & the Alexanders, Parenting, Seasons, Thanksgiving . , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sunday November 8, 2020: Sunrise. Two Maple buddies: the red maple to the left in the distance & the boxelder maple close right

My love of deciduous trees started with the onset of 10th Grade (1981-1982). Daddy had bought me Copper and Chief, my two beloved Black and Tan coonhounds in August, and we four were spending hours in the autumn-laden ridges of Varnell. As we would either walk up and down the ridges, talk, or listen to Chief and Copper begin their innate, melodious bawling, we would discuss the trees of our woods. We mostly spoke of the noble oaks, but, of course, the maples were embedded in the woods as well. As I write this entry which is dedicated to maples, our oak trees behind our house have burst forth with color. Seriously, on Friday November 6, 2020, the oaks were green as green can be. By Sunday the 8th, they had turned reds, yellows, & oranges!

My father, Copper, Chief, and I spent the whole winter tromping through the woods that later went bare, of course. Then, the spring of 1982 came with all the new green and rebirth of plants, trees, and flowers. My 10th grade biology teacher had assigned to us a final project where we were to complete a spring flower and leaf album of 25 plants and flowers we could find in our environment. I asked Daddy to help me. One evening, he and I walked the woods behind our house with Copper and Chief. Several days later, Daddy and I walked Nanny’s yard collecting leaves. It was May 15, 1982 (Nanny’s birthday and my dad had made her a birthday cake while I mowed Nanny’s yard.. it was Saturday.. we had a family celebration after I mowed). Thirteen days later, Friday May 28, Daddy was dead. I had to finish the album without him to turn in after Memorial Day, and Nanny came to the house with some old-timey botanical magazines (We had to have those Latin, botanical names written by those leaves, ya know!) that she had collected through the years to help me fumble through the finishing touches of the album. Well, I finished it, and, sadly,  I did not make a 100…. I made a 97. I think my teacher doubted some of the Latin names just between us readers; however, that love of studying and labeling flora has stuck with me.

As I wrote this past July, this COVID season has made me see things through my nature loving – Cherokee ( Yes, Pap Edwards…. Edwards Park Varnell , GA at Plainview…. Cleveland Road was my Cherokee ancestor to the Caylors… great-great-great grandfather) eyes. Walking with my family or jogging by myself on this land has tuned me in better to my surroundings, and I am very grateful that God’s spirit touches my spirit with the love and desire to research and share about my environment.

 I hope you enjoy our mesmerizing maples. I’ve placed a photo of the entire maple tree with a side-by-side photo of its autumn colored leaf/leaves. Also, Thanksgiving 2020 may be another 17 days away, but I do want to say an early “Happy Thanksgiving!” to you all. God is great. Peace / Shalom.

red maple (acer rubrum)

boxelder maple (acer negundo)

field maple (acer campestre)
sugar maple (acer saccharum)

Summer Fruits

. Family, Seasons . , , , , , , , ,

For me, this home quarantine experience has given me a new perspective and appreciation of God’s beauty around our house. Being the introverted-extrovert that I am, I haven ‘t minded being at home with my family and enjoying the nature that surrounds us. I want to share our fruit-bearing season of the beautiful yet humid Southeast Tennessee, especially here at our home.

We began walking up and down our 800 ft. driveway as a family late in March for family exercise. Until April, the majority of the trees were bare. The Bradford pear trees had bloomed and had some leaves, but that was about it. As the days went by, that “first green”, vibrant, light green donned our mountain. In a week, the whole mountain was “first green”. By my birthday on May 7, it was all “spring-summer” green with that rich, green, chlorophyll shroud. All the different grasses (Bermuda, fescue, crab grass, weeds, clover… LOL) blended together by June to make our summer carpet to match the green drapery of our trees that surrounded us. I also have to mention that our black walnut trees budded and unfurled their leaves the latest we had seen since our first spring here in 2005. The spring of 2020 our two black walnut trees had not budded by May 1, yet they had small leaves adorning their branches by my birthday six days later.

 

God isn’t finished with me yet when it comes to carpentry, gardening, or being a mechanic. He may bless me with the opportunities to learn those things quite soon. Who knows? Maybe never. However, I love watching vegetables and fruits grow. Last week, I was doing my weekly mowing on the tractor ( Oh, once again, our Brother in Christ, Lloyd Thieman, has been our tractor savior this year!!! ) , and I drove under some of the infamous privet hedges that are 10 feet tall. Dangling from the hedges were muscadine vines with muscadines!  Some were even turning purple! While dodging privet branches I yelled only to God , “Muscadines already?” , and I could hear God (Not God’s literal voice , of course… I’m not Pentecostal yet) saying, “Yes, Haven. ALREADY.” This thought gave me the theme of this entry. After I parked the tractor in the barn that evening, I took my phone and snapped photos of our muscadines, pears, and black walnuts.

 

red pears
muscadines
green pears
black walnuts

 

 

As long as the earth will stand, God will give us our seasons. He shared that promise with Noah thousands of years ago. This isn’t an entry about the spiritual seasons of us Christians, but, of course it’s a parallel. Friends and family, stop and enjoy God’s seasonal surroundings. You won’t regret it.

Whippoorwills are late in 2020

. Family, Seasons . , , , , , , ,

Whippoorwills were VERY LATE this year. Like 5 weeks late! What’s up with that? Oh, well, I heard my first 2020 whippoorwill at 5 AM this morning. I had to take Buddy the dachshund out for his morning constitutional, and the little whippoorwill was bellowing away!

Okay, so I am now anticipating lightning bugs, katydids, and cicadas. Your up, summer 2020! Don’t let us down. We need a good and fun one.

whip_poor_will

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Fall Fun 2015

. Family, Seasons . , , ,

Here in the Southeast Autumn is Awesome! We may not have the spectrum of autumn colors that New England has, but we do have some great colors. To me, the best part is the cool, sunny days that are not too cold! If you notice what Carter and Ammon are wearing, they are wearing T-shirts and jeans. However, at sundown, it got so chilly. I think the low for this night was about 45 degrees.

I love the magical, autumn memories Carter and Ammon have been making during their lives: autumn leaves, beautiful views of Hunter’s Moons in October, the early frosts covering our roses, learning to ride bicycles, and now starting to learn to skateboard. We are so blessed, and I want to share, once again, what our mantel looks like from the First Day of Autumn until the Day after Thanksgiving.

Autumn_angels

Our harvest angels have graced our home for several years now. During the autumn, they flank our Lladró figurine of Jesus Christ, The Master Teacher. As I turned their faces toward the figure of Christ, I couldn’t help but think of Dante’s Paradiso XXIII 43-45:

Then her eyes turned to the eternal Light
Into whose depth we may believe the eyes
45 Of no other creature penetrates more clearly.


When there are angelic figures or human figures on our mantel, I try to position them where their eyes are fixed on the Eternal Light, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.