Ah, bittersweet

At this time of year I see them everywhere, the gatherers of bittersweet. They love those colorful berries on the vine and they bring them home by the armful and the trunkful.

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It’s so pretty, they say. They make bittersweet wreaths to hang on their fences and doors. They put it in fall arrangements indoors and out. They love it so much.

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And then something funny happens. The bittersweet berries are full of seeds after all and the bittersweet begins to grow and grow and grow. It climbs up houses and strangles bushes and trees.

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It grows and grows and grows

Until it alone stands in the landscape….

Of course bittersweet hasn’t taken over the landscape quite yet but think twice before you bring it home and let it wreak havoc in your yard.

When people say a plant is invasive bittersweet is one of the Poster plants!

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After the storm

All weekend long it blew and blew. It rained, it poured and it drizzled. Roads flooded, yards flooded and trees blew down. Power went out. November asserted herself.

And then the next day, the sun shone….

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We went for a drive down Cape and stopped at Fort Hill

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And over to Coast Guard Beach and Nauset Light Beach where we saw seals and hundreds of gulls and gannets.

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As the sun lowered itself closer to the horizon we went to First Encounter Beach where everything had a golden hue.

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We saw a late rose and the moon rise over some trees

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We saw hundreds and hundreds of ducks fly into the bay as the sun set

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And bid the sun farewell

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Celebrating Bats on Halloween!

I’m batty about bats and you should be too!

batty for you

 

Bats are often feared and misunderstood so I have this little quiz for you today. Feel free to cut and paste and print it. If you do the same with my images in this post please only use them for your own personal use. All written and visual work is protected by copyright.

Busting Bat Myths!
With Cape Cod Art and Nature

True or False?

1. ____ All bats eat insects.
2. ____Bats are mice with wings.
3. ____Bats live on every continent.
4. ____Bats love to eat moths.
5. ____Bats are 25% of all mammals.
6. ____All bats are small.
7. ____Bats have one baby a year.
8. ____Bats live in belfries.
9. ____Bats are mammals.
10. ____Bats want to scare you.
11. ____Vampire bats are real.
12. ____Bats like to nest in people’s hair.
13. ____Bats have thumbs and wrists.
14. ____All bats are nocturnal.
15. ____Bats are blind.
16. ____Bats hibernate.
17. ____Bats can drink water on the fly.
18. ____Bats use echolocation to find food and avoid collisions.

bat anatomy sheet

Happy Halloween!

 

First snow of the fall on Cape Cod….

It happened….it snowed before Thanksgiving here on Cape Cod. That by itself is not so unusual since we’ve even gotten snow in October before. What was unusual was the sudden drop in temperatures and the sudden switch between a mild, lovely fall and a wild, windy snowy fall in less than 24 hours….

009The birds had no choice bu to hunker down…

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The landscape became cold and crisp and dotted with icy snow even on the ocean’s edge like here at Fort Hill in Eastham….

002Perhaps one of the saddest elements of the sudden change is the increase in cold stunned sea turtles being found on the bay beaches. These turtles were found this morning and are being triaged at Wellfleet Bay Wellfleet Sanctuary. Please call 508-349-2615 and leave a message if you have to, if you find a turtle.

003These turtles are lucky to have been found and most, if not all, will be slowly warmed back to life, hydrated and treated according to their needs…

004As of my stopping by to take these pictures before my painting class this morning, there were already 10 turtles being taken care of….

 

 

 

 

Happy November!

Well, I haven’t posted much in October, mostly because October was a whirlwind, crazy busy month for me. I taught art and nature classes all over the Cape, had an exhibit at Barnstable Town Hall and wrote a whole lot of columns and reviews. Yep, it was a busy month.

I worked with Project Life classes through the Thornton Burgess Society in Sandwich, Bourne and Mashpee….

032taught kids how to pick up crabs without getting pinched…

033taught a little painting to adults, too….at Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary but also did a little painting of my own…002

We had a little reunion with former students–all the ladies but me are in their 80s and one is in her 90s! I’ve known most of these ladies as students since 1980 and we’ve all become great friends. One moved to New Mexico 10 years ago but came to see us this fall….2011 etsy christmas cards 025

We had a great 5 week session of fall Sandy Neck Junior Rangers…011

and of course, the always energetic and photogenic Arlo was happy to join me walking along the canal on some of the best fall days….147

 

 

 

The light after the storm….

Over the last few days the light has been amazing so I thought I’d share some of my favorite photos…

Here is Kalmus Beach in Hyannis…

There was a lot of erosion of the dunes…

Rain and sun mixed in the clouds together…

Morning light under a dark front…

light and dark mix at sunrise to make amazing effects on the waves…

even the light in the dunes reflected the light in the clouds

afternoon skies began to clear…

and finally the light began to fade into the colors of dusk, muted and quiet…

so many beautiful scenes….I hope you got out to enjoy some of them….

 

 

 

September’s amazing light…

I love September on the Cape as do many others. The temperature and humidity are much closer to my general comfort zone and the crowds have eased up a bit. More than anything, though, I love the light…

There’s the light that sneaks out beneath the velvety purple and gray clouds…

the interplay between softness and drama….

the contrast between the possibility of sun and the certainty of rain…

often all happening in mere moments across the landscape…

colors are intensified…

changing minute by minute…until….

the first signs of a rainbow appear…

and a second one appears above it…

and it fills the sky…

all that amazing light in one September day…