September feast

Quiet at The Land today.

You can almost hear

a caterpillar munch.

Rattlesnake masters

stretch out 

their club shape hands.

Can these pugnacious plants

really protect me from rattlesnakes? 

                                        Don't think I'll find out.

The late afternoon sun

lures me 

out

onto the paths.

Photo by KC

This was supposed to be 
my fast bike day.

Once a week I bike 35 miles

as fast as I can.

I only stop 

for a picture 

of a welcome pumpkin.

Then the dust cloud 

of the soybean harvest 

catches my eye.

I watch 

the lumbering approach of the harvester 

until the seed laden wind

rumbles into my face.

I retreat...

and watch 

a caterpillar 

sipping clover

across the street.

It's all about food

this time of year.

We harvest 

corn

soybeans

and pumpkins.

Butterflies 

and caterpillars 

drink from flowers...

...and birds chow down

on berries 

for the energy

to carry them south.

I need energy, too.

So I stop by The Land

for a brief hammock rest...

...before the sunlit leaves

beckon me

to the paths.

The blackberries

are gone.

Eaten or planted

for next year's brambles.

I don't know what flower this is -

a spot of light 

in the forest shadow.

Does it matter

that I don't know

the name?

September ends tomorrow.

And October begins.

KC can start decorating

for Halloween.

The Old Hickory 

remembers me reading 

The Halloween Tree

under his crooked branches

so many years ago.

I look out the loft 

of the barn

to The Land below.

The sun 

sets too soon.

The ride home
is dark.

It's time for 

a drink...