Day 17.262: Rose

We spent the day today driving Exile #3 to an appointment in Boston, which was generally good without being  revolutionary. 

In other news we planted this English rose yesterday that came from my sister as an anniversary gift. It should be ideal for our climate so we’re hoping we can encourage it to grow and thrive here

Day 17.261: Exile #2’s Sunday Column #493

Exile #2 writes...

One of the perks of sitting behind the pep band at the football game was that we were also next to the student section. They are a rambunctious lot and almost as entertaining as the game. Their role, of course, is twofold. To cheer for the home team and to roast the opposition, which on this occasion, they did with impressive levels of organization. Sure, their chants may have lacked some of the complexity and, ahem, lyrical imagination, shall we say, of premiership football, but their simple formula was effective and delivered with precision.

After a little warm up with Seven Nation Army, they settled into a four syllable system. As the visiting team made their first foul, they were ready with a quick round of YOU-CAN’T-DO-THAT, followed by a BU-TTER-FIN-GERS after a subsequent missed catch. As the home team pulled ahead they found the ideal moment for a WHY-SO-QUI-ET (I guess the US version of You’re not singing anymore) but followed up soon after with WE’LL-CHEER-FOR-YOU and capped it all off with the ultimate show of confidence - chanting FOR the away team. In the 4th quarter, as the score widened further still, they brought out IT‘S-ALL-O-VER. But the final chant and, perhaps the killer, delivered after a late touchdown by the visiting team was IT’S-STILL-OVER. None of it was delivered with real malice, of course, and it kept us smiling.

Day 17.260: Peppy

It was the first outing for the pep band at a home football game today. We went along to cheer for the sport and the music in equal amounts. 

Making an entrance

The guys then leave the girls to collect the trash and tidy up after them

Our view of the game

It was a home-win which always makes for a fun afternoon. 

Day 17.259: Shafted (and other bird identifiers)

These were some of our birding sightings from this morning. 

Red-tailed hawk at the top of the Norway spruce

White-throated sparrow 

Swamp sparrow 

Northern flicker. They were previously called yellow-shatter flickers due to these splendid flight feather shafts. In the west they are red but both yellow-shafted and red-shafted are identified as a single species. 

Gray catbird. Looking a little less bedraggled than last week (but in the same spot)

Blue jay- one of our group had just watched this one swallow a whole acorn. Quite impressive.

Day 17.258: Fall

The leaves are turning and the weather is cooling and the equinox has passed. Fall in Maine. 

I took this photo yesterday. Today it rained all day. 

Day 17.257: Wordless Wednesday: bedewed

Day 17.256: Taking me taking him

Exile #2 took this picture. I took that one. 

Day 17.255: Exile #2’s Sunday Column #492

Exile #2 writes...

After some scorching temperatures last weekend, it has turned appropriately cool to see in the start of fall. The acorns have begun to fall, the leaves are starting to turn, and the turkeys continue to make regular visits, perhaps avoiding the places where the bow hunters are hanging out.

With all the fall colors, it is also the perfect season for taking senior photos and that’s what we did this afternoon. I’m sure the final choice will be revealed at some point but this one was one made me smile!

Day 17.254: Sneaky date night

Exile #3 is still away in Florida and E5N1 was out supporting his friends who are in various marching bands at their festival this evening so we sneaked out for semi-fancy dinner. 

The fact that it came at the end of day in which various chores had been completed including our UK taxes made it all the sweeter. 

Day 17.253: Birds in the mist

It was a rather drizzly visit to the cemetery this morning with the nature group. As a result, it was not a great morning for bird sightings and what we saw were rather wet or distant or both. Here's a selection.

A group of gulls flying up-river. Some at least are great black-backed gulls

Gray catbird

Eastern wood-pewee

Belted kingfisher

Bald eagle in "the eagle tree"

Day 17.252: Motel features

The motel we stayed in last weekend had some pretty interesting (historical features). It felt a bit like a step back in time.

Inverse do not disturb sign

Don't accidentally switch that switch

It looks like sometimes this screw in the door frame has been used as an extra security feature

The purpose of this small item of wall furniture seems to have been lost to history (at least for our kids' generation).

How many of these seem odd to you?

Day 17.251: PJ Harvey

An unpleasant drive through particularly heavy early evening traffic was rewarded by a wonderful evening of music with PJ Harvey and her band. And they started early enough that even though they played for two hours we were able to drive home again before midnight. 

Day 17.250: Turkey; dinner

The (presumably) mother and child turkeys I previously reported on have been back several times. On one occasion, the parent sat down in the sun.

Meanwhile, the youngster continued (for a while) to stroll and peck until it too joined its mother for a sit down on the warm grass.

Out of the same window, we observed a spider catch a fly and wrap it up expertly.

It was close enough to allow an identification by the Seek app. Araneus diadematus, the cross orbweaver - also known as the European garden spider.

Day 17.249: Birds in Vermont

We weren't really looking for birds while we were there, but that didn't mean we didn't see any.

We saw several eastern phoebes:

and a few birds of other kinds:

Northern flicker

European starling

This bird caused some brief excitement. It turned out to be a young eastern bluebird

On the drive through the mountains, we saw at least two bald eagles but it wasn't the time for photography.

Day 17.248: Exile #2’s Sunday Column #491

Exile #2 writes...

The college we visited today was quite a different story from the big bustling campus we visited yesterday. It was beautiful - built on rolling hills set in the shadow of the Green Mountains, but it felt like a ghost town. Admittedly, most campuses would early on a Sunday morning, but something about the place said that it knew its days were numbered and it wasn’t going to try too hard to delay the inevitable. We enjoyed exploring but were happy to get back on the road and enjoy the loveliness of Vermont, the trees just beginning to change across the hundreds of square miles of National Forest.

Day 17.247: Mountain drive

E5N1, Exile #2 and I started our day quite early so we could drive through the mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont to Burlington for a college tour at the University of Vermont starting at 11 am. After the tour we had lunch, a little walk and a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream before getting back in the car for another 3 hour drive south through the Green Mountains to Bennington where we have another tour arranged for tomorrow. 

The three of us by Lake Champlain

View to the Adirondacks in upstate NY over Lake Champlain