Observations from Visit #5

Wow, where did the month of November go? It feels like November 1st was just yesterday, and yet today is November 20! I can't believe it. Anyway, today I had the great opportunity to make another visit to my field. It felt really good to get reconnected with everything there in God's creation after taking a few weeks off from visiting. Today's weather was fairly cloudy, and the temperature around the time I visited in the afternoon was 43 degrees F. The length of day was 9 hours 35 minutes, and I am still getting used to the fact that it is getting dark at 5:30 pm. It doesn't feel right; although I don't mind the extra daylight in the morning.

The first thing I noticed upon arrival at my field was the number of squirrels around. I counted at least five of them busy romping through the leaves on the side of the dune. The leaves are pretty much all off the trees right now. They have a nice crunch when you step on them, too, yet it's really sad because they have greatly faded since falling off the trees. The only green I could see was in the evergreens. I just felt like there needed to be more white, though. We're a little bit past the middle of November, and I can almost guarantee that if temperatures don't drop another 10-15 degrees, we won't be seeing snow for a while. It was hard sitting there with the weather being so cold without any snow. If it has to be cold, bring on the snow!! I trust that God will bring it in due time, and then we'll be complaining about it after the first significant snow event of the season. Another thing that I couldn't help but notice was that there weren't any birds today. The past couple of times I've been to my field, the birds were singing in full force, but now, it seems as if they have migrated south already. I can't wait until they come back in the spring. Today, only the squirrels seemed to occupy cold, breezy forest, along with a couple of other hikers. Even though this project goes through the end of November, there is part of me hoping to come back once there is snow on the ground. I have a feeling that I might be able to see something more unique than normal in such a beautiful place as this...

Here's another snapshot from my field. I will see about putting together a photo montage at the end of this project. They've turned out superb!!