Winter is Coming

When I woke up this morning, it was unusually cool in the house. The thermostat said 68 degrees- whoa. It’s time to break out the flannel – pajamas for sleep and shirts for everything else. Outside, the leaves on the trees are falling precipitously; the patio furniture is stored in the barn with the old cars, the heating oil tank is topped off, and out on the pond the cygnets are coasting down the cove in front of my house, together with a few geese and ducks, forming a waterfowl parade. The adult swans cruise alongside the cygnets, protecting them from predators; the young have been hiding all season among the heavy shore growth of phragmites. The pond water has been lowered for the season, and my small sailboat sits grounded in the muddy flats at the entrance to the cove. 

On the lawn, a gang of wild turkeys struts and pecks at fallen seeds from the bird feeders and at worms and insects in the grass. Their number has increased lately, as if a harbinger of Thanksgiving. Despite their ungainly shape, the turkeys possess a certain presence due to their sheer size, with their lustrous feathers, languid demeanor, and sharp beaks. Watching these large creatures fly is a wonder to behold. It is their wild world, and we are just living in it. 

The deer are minding their own business and their offspring. The rabbits scurry nonstop, avoiding the fox that lives in my field. 

Thanksgiving plans are already in the works, and I look forward to family time here in East Hampton, but I am off now to New York City for an overnight visit and meeting with clients. Life moves fast these days. Even the wildlife seems to feel it.