The Elysian Fields

Yesterday: Planted all of the heaths and heathers in the morning, and went to the Subaru dealership in the afternoon. The meadow looks good - and, I expect, will look even better as the plants continue to grow. Deb decided she does like the Forester much better than the Outback after sitting in both. She took a Forester for a ride, and, after some more conversation with the dealer, he brought around a slate grey one with the premium package for us to look at. We pick it up Monday.

Beautiful fall day, so we walked around the yard in the morning, and in the afternoon my father, my son, and I went for a short hike on the Appalachian Trail to Bake Oven Knob. We sat on the South Lookout for a short while, but the wind seemed different than it did last time - and all the birds were at a distance, on the other side of the ridge. While several others discussed whether or not to head for the other lookout, I decided we definitely would - I remember hearing that the best lookout for watching depended on wind direction. In our short time at the south lookout, we saw a handful of sharpies, several groups of turkey buzzards, and a red tailed hawk - we just missed a bald eagle. After relocating to the north lookout, which put us right in the wind, we saw numerous birds - although there were less experts around to assist with the identification.

A sharpie and a bald eagle danced for a bit - a couple of attacks by each - and then another eagle arrived. We watched the pair of eagles for upwards of ten minutes - sometimes only able to keep one in the glass at a time, until that one folded its wings to attack the other, or vice versa. At one point, they circled each other and made numerous charges and feints for several minutes before separating. Much drama!

On the drive to and from, right as we turned off paved roads and headed up the hill (mountain, they call it, around here) and again on the way down, until just as we got back on the pavement, we were listening to Merry and Pippen and Treebeard - listening to Fangorn as we drove through the yellow-leaved woods - which proved an excellent setting for the BBC presentation.