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Bex Hall > phenology wheel

phenology wheel

Nature has its own time table

October 7, 2021

I let September slide by without creating in my nature journal

Yellowstone photo by Bex Hall

Here it is, one week into October and I didn’t draw or paint anything in my nature journal for September. I kept up with the daily temps and weather on the phenology wheel, but paint never touched the page.

September 2021 Phenology Wheel

I made note of a few things I noticed during the previous month. The box turtle Ellie found, the woolly worms, and the occasional colorful leaf on the ground.

But I had zero desire or interest in drawing or painting any of it.

I’ve been creating in the journal for eight consecutive months. I’ve enjoyed it and am pleased with the results. So why this month? Why now? Where and what is this resistance?


When I was a kid, school started after Labor Day, in September. Retailers bombarded the airwaves and newspapers with ads full of fall fashions. Sweaters, boots, scarves, hats. And in August, we would buy these things.

And on the first day of school, we would show up in our new cool weather clothing, only to shed most of it by noon and wear our disappointment the rest of the day instead.

Summer was over, the pools closed, stuck indoors without air conditioning, yet the heat remained, taunting us with memories of loose clothing, bare feet, and being outdoors. September seemed to be the longest month. Waiting for everything. The bell to ring, the leaves to turn, the cooler weather.


When I finished August’s journal and narrative on the 30th, I think I reverted to that place of expectancy I carried in my youth. 

Days passed and everything still looked the same as August. The trees all still green. The air still muggy. Gnats and flies and mosquitos, still bugging me. Grass still growing tall.

Why was I letting this disappointment derail me from the joy I feel when I draw and paint and write? I expected things to change so September wouldn’t be a twin to August on the page. And they didn’t. So I didn’t.

Last month was a reminder to keep expectations real and to look for the little things that ARE different. That HAVE changed. To notice and to create without expectation. To enjoy the process and appreciate the transition.

It’ll get done when it gets done. 😊

Gretal Erlich’s Solace quote

Filed Under: Art Projects, Writing Tagged With: creative life, nature journal, phenology wheel

August is the Sunday of Summer

August 31, 2021

August Phenology Wheel 2021

August is the Sunday of Summer. And like a Sunday, we enjoy the vestiges of a rhythm we have become comfortable. August brings changes all around us, if you look.

The once majestic sunflowers hang their heads, tired. The verdant hillsides are suffused with a dullness. Morning birdsong comes later than usual. Queen Anne has traded her white lace for fields of purple ironweed and feathery goldenrod.

Hummingbirds are scarce, woolly bear caterpillars are on the march, and foggy mornings are frequent.

Cain and Mabel

August gave us a grand show, though. The morning glory blossoms were at their deepest velvet. Electric pink milk thistle appeared in fields. Pokeweed berries ripened to the color of burgundy wine. Orange jewelweed dotted the landscape.

August nature journal
Full Sturgeon Moon

The air still wraps itself around us like a steamy wet blanket, but soon we’ll use a real one to ward off the chill. Windows will reopen and curtains will billow with cool breezes. Bedtime stories will come earlier and car headlights once again necessary for the morning commute.

American Goldfinch on spent coneflower

When the sun shines in a September blue sky, it will illuminate mountains sprinkled with multicolored confetti against a backdrop of windswept white clouds. There will be hints of pepper and sassafras in the air. Squirrel’s nests will appear among the treetops, their height perhaps an indicator of the level of snow we might expect in winter.

Banded Tussock Moth and caterpillar

I heard cicadas for the first time this summer on Saturday the 21st. According to folklore, six weeks from then will be our first frost here. I’ve marked the calendar for October 2nd, just to see.

August, the Sunday of Summer

There’s only a little while longer for short sleeves and flip-flops. Butterflies, bumblebees, and trees thick with leaves. For this Sunday of summer, I relish the remnants of this relaxed time before I turn the page and begin anew. 

The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last forever. Even on the most beautiful days in the whole year – the days when summer is changing into autumn – the crickets spread the rumour of sadness and change.”

E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web
August 2021 nature journal

Filed Under: Art Projects Tagged With: creative life, creativity exercises, nature journal, phenology wheel

Nature folklore and weather predictions

August 24, 2021

Old wive’s tales have some elements of truth

This past Saturday (21st), I heard the first cicadas in our area. I’ve marked the calendar for October 2nd, six weeks from then, to see if their prediction of a first frost is true.

And today I heard for every foggy morning in August, it will snow that many days this winter. Since I’ve been keeping track with the nature journal and phenology wheel, I’ll check on this next Spring.

Mushrooms

Small things to look forward to. 😊

What natural folklore have you seen come true in your area? Send me an email and let me know.

Foggy morning with Sissy

Filed Under: Miscellany Tagged With: nature journal, phenology wheel

July brings celebration in nature

August 3, 2021

July 2021 Phenology Wheel

It may have been the wettest July on record, at least in nearby Huntington, WV, but we still had plenty of hot and sunshiny days.

July 2021 Nature Journal

The Mimosa tree blooms are still fragrant and plentiful. The delicate white of Queen Anne’s Lace and the periwinkle blue of Chicory adorn the roadsides. Dragonflies and Swallowtails flit and feed along with what so far has been only female hummingbirds at the wild trumpet vine and Stick Verbena flowers.

Queen Anne’s Lace and Chicory

The morning glories are a month behind their usual domination of the patio trellis and so far only deep purple blooms dot the green wall of heart-shaped leaves.

Fifty Cent, the House Wren

Most mornings at exactly 5:30, the first bird to shatter the night’s silence is a House Wren I named Fifty Cent. The bird book says they weigh about as much as two quarters, so… 

For fun, I play an audio recording of a House Wren and watch with amusement as he warbles and scolds in response. He built a nest and found a mate. But from what I’ve read, this is probably just one of his multiple families.

A few of the sunflowers have bloomed, some with petals growing in the centers of the heads, but they still serve their purpose; the bees don’t seem to mind their odd appearance. One monster sunflower has reached a height just past the gutter. Its head seeks the setting sun on the opposite side of the house, even though the bloom has yet to open.

The full buck moon this month was a baby aspirin orange when it first appeared which led to a new nickname: pumpkin moon. Is it wrong to be thinking about pumpkins in July? I see patches of the brilliant orange and yellow leaves of the Staghorn Sumac nestled among a sea of green. A harbinger of Autumn, a mere seven weeks away.

A Whitetail Skimmer

But for now, today I will notice and enjoy the sultry air, the dance of the bats and lightning bugs at dusk and dawn, the fiery sunsets, bare feet on grass and in puddles, and flower heads that magically move under the weight of bumblebees and butterflies. 

“Woods are filled with the music of birds, and all nature is laughing under the glorious influence of Summer.” — Charles Lanham, Author, Artist, Librarian

Well done, July. 👏🏻

Charles Lanham quote

Filed Under: Art Projects Tagged With: creative life, creativity exercises, nature journal, phenology wheel

The month of June bursts with life

July 7, 2021

Bugs, birds, and bunnies are stars of the show

June 2021 Nature Journal & Phenology Wheel

June unfolded with hanging wisteria, feral roadside tiger lilies, and mimosa trees laden with pink powder puffs. Little yellows and common blue butterflies flit from coneflower to verbena to dianthus.

This is the time of abundant sweet strawberries, so June’s full moon came to be known as the Strawberry Moon by the Algonquin tribes.

June 2021 Nature Journal

June also hosts the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, also known as the summer solstice, when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer. This day marks the beginning of the gradual decrease of daylight. The climax in the three-act structure of our summer narrative.

Every workday morning my husband drives down our little rural road and if he sees four or more rabbits, he calls me to report the count. We’ve seen as many as eight bunnies dive into the safety of the brush from the asphalt as we make our way to town. 

The red-winged blackbird is plentiful and I see them among the cattails in the marshy areas and near the river where the mayflies are still swarming. In the 14 years here, this is the first time I’ve seen mayflies in July.

Red-winged blackbird

At the end of the month we saw a juvenile red-tailed hawk unsuccessfully attack a snapping turtle which was creeping across the road. We’ve watched with amusement as the clumsy hawk bumps into limbs, flounders, and lands on the ground. It’s as if it “picks up its skirts” and with care, long stride lunges on its lily white legs across the grass for a few feet before it stretches its wings, takes flight and soars over the river.

June 2021 Phenology Wheel

The month held oven heated air, humidity, and a few cooling thunderstorms. Magnificent, moody sunsets. Bats swooping for a meal at dusk. Evenings into nights sprinkled with fireflies floating and blinking above the dewy grass.

Every sunset is different

“Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow.” —Shakespeare

Strawberry full moon

See you next year, June.

Filed Under: Art Projects Tagged With: creative life, creativity exercises, nature journal, phenology wheel

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About Bex

 

Bex Hall

Her writing has appeared in various online and print publications, most recently in Kerning, a literary magazine, and in the Stories of Hope Collection in Transplant Living. Her artwork has appeared and sold through the Grayson Gallery. She blogs here about creative life and creates in Studio BE overlooking the Ohio River. Her work in progress is a memoir about the secret life of objects.

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