Home to Familiar Shores

What a treat it was to spend a few days in the stimulating bustle and magnificent cultural attractions of New York City!  And oh, how sweet it also was to return to the placidly beautiful shores of Moreau Lake on this splendid late-autumn day.  There was nothing particularly exciting or novel to report about my walk around the lake today, just the familiar joys of feeling soft sand beneath my feet, scenting the fragrance of sun-warmed pines, hearing the whispers of tiny ripples lapping against the shore,  and seeing a sky lend its deep-blue radiance to the breeze-riffled water of the lake.

I saw not another human as I made my way around the lake, but I certainly saw many hundreds of Canada Geese gathered in clustered flocks across the water or resting on the shore.

There were other waterfowl as well, including some Hooded Mergansers and also this pair of Bufflehead Ducks bobbing on the water and intermittently diving beneath the surface.

And here in this cove, a pair of Black Ducks moved serenely back and forth across the quiet water.

Striding along the sun-lit shore, I halted to gaze at the golden ripples moving in hypnotic waves across the sandy bottom close to the water's edge.

The flowers of Evening Primrose were spent long ago, but these colorful rosettes of their basal leaves offered the promise that they would return next summer.

A few Bittersweet Nightshade vines still held some clusters of ruby-red berries .

And look at this!  One solitary Dandelion blossom shone like a golden star amid the acorns and shed beechnut husks that littered the sand.

At first glance, I thought for a second that these, too, might be the small yellow flowers some bush had produced, taking advantage of our prolonged, over-warm autumn.  But a closer look revealed that these "blooms" were simply the yellowish leathery bracts of spent Witch Hazel flowers, which would persist throughout the winter.

As the afternoon wore on, more clouds moved in and a chilling breeze began to blow across the open lake, but here on the back bay, the water still lay serene and unrippled, and a lowering sun cast a golden light along the far shore.

Soon, the shore lay mostly in shadow with only the tops of the trees and a distant mountaintop holding the lingering rays of the sun.  Darkness comes so soon this close to the Winter Solstice!  I longed to sit and take in the beauty of this scene, but I was only half way around the lake, so now I had to pick up my pace if I wanted to make it home before dark.  But I will soon be back!