Autumns of the past, present and future (10/27/2022)

I somehow enjoy autumn, fall or whatever you call it. I prefer the British word autumn over the harsher word fall that they use is this country. I understand a lot the leaves must fall, and that juxtaposition is not lost on me; but still, the word autumn sounds so nice.

As a kid I never experienced anything like autumn, or at least I don’t remember it, growing up in the tropics. I know that as a two-year-old I must have spent a change of seasons in Antwerp, Belgium, where we lived for a year. I remember seeing pictures of me in the snow, but I do know that we were back in the tropics before fall arrived the next year because my brother was born in early December. You were not allowed to fly when heavily pregnant back then (air pressure changes would make the baby pop out in the 1950s), and from what I know, we arrived back on our tropical island around August or September. Actually, my brother was born on December 5th which is Sinter Klaas (Saint Nicolas’ birthday) for us Dutch folks and that was a bitter disappointment to me. I had asked the good old wise guy for a sister, and he had delivered a brother to the hospital, or at least that was what my father told me. That is still the first memory I have; I was three and a half years old.

Our vacations, a few months back to the Netherlands every four years, never coincided with autumn; I think. Although I do remember briefly going to first grade in Terbregge, a suburb of Rotterdam, during our first vacation. This must have been in September, so I guess, theoretically it was fall in Holland. My luck, I came down with mononucleosis or kissing disease, a six-year-old kissing? Obviously, it was a vacation to forget! Moreover, I remember running home after school, to my grandmother’s home, where we were staying that vacation, and pooping in my pants; I had to go so badly. Yup, forget that vacation.

After that though, I do not remember any autumn visits to the Netherlands until I moved there after my 16th birthday. I lived with my aunt and four cousins that first autumn and I remember that she rented a cabin on or near the Veluwe in the center of the Netherlands. De Veluwe is a natural area that has a sandier soil and consist of woods and heather. Part of it is a National Park or a nature preserve. I remember walking through the woods often alone, (my cousins were not outdoorsy) during that week looking over fields of blooming heather. It was foggy at times and for the first time I heard the call of the coocoo. It was absolutely magical and amazing for a lonely, 16-year-old introvert who had just arrived from the tropics where it was always summer and was now temporarily living with five females (women and girls).

Autumn, a time of death, recycling, eventual rebirth, Halloween, the rutting (breeding) of deer, bucks will shed their horns (a.k.a. racks) to build back larger and better, even our elections, you get the idea (hopefully not the death of democracy as we know it). Farmers are harvesting, the grapes are coming into the wineries (ah, Beaujolai), the first beers are being brewed from the fresh grains (what I knew as Bock Bier in Holland, although it was usually released after the New Year). It is a mystical time and a time of hope, rebirth around the corner.

Walking through the woods behind our home I notice that the colors are more intense, partially because of the lower sun angle, and partially because of the changing leave colors. I don’t think we have seen the sun in three or four days now. It has been a bit dreary, but that makes it even more fall-like with temperatures in the low 60s (around 15 degrees C). In my days in the Netherlands this was the time for foggy days.

The seasons, the diurnal fluxes (day and night) and even the differences in day length between summer and winter are fascinating to me. This is what triggers autumn. Some of these triggers will probably never change, while seasons may change over or maybe even within generations, partially as a result of climate change. Sitting here writing this, I come to remember my college plant physiology courses where I learned about the mechanism of day length or better night length on hormones and plant response (read leaf color and plant senescence/dormancy for the winter). For example, maples start changing color when the days and nights have the same length (September 21), while oaks generally do it around the first frost.

But enough science speak. It just made me wonder how organisms or plants would or are adapting on other planets in other solar systems where there is a different gravity, season length, day or night length, year length, light intensity, wavelength of the light being emitted by their sun or suns, composition of their atmosphere, and soil types. I expect that those organisms have evolved there over a long time and should be adapted. They should probably thrive. In our case, because of human manipulation of our environment, the changes might be going too fast for some of the organisms to adapt, which may lead to mass extinction. Punctuated evolution anyone? Who knows?

Read up on that, I might write about that one of these days a bit more. Right now, I am just enjoying autumn; however, you know me, my mind cannot help wandering and wondering a bit. It is autumn, time for death and rebirth!

Nothing better than an early morning autumn walk in the woods with the dogs.  As most of you know, this is my passion, experiencing the sights, sounds and smell of the woods behind our home.

This picture was taken mid-afternoon, during a lunch walk.  I just enjoyed how the two trunks (the young and the old) mirrored each other.  As a bonsai guy, this is what we are after when we try to create movement in our trunks, or trees in general.  As I mentioned I am always, studying and wondering.  I also let my mind wander. 

Appomattox (4/28/2022)

We visited Appomattox Court House the other day. A quick history lesson, this is the place where the Civil War officially ended, and General Lee signed the treaty that officially ended the war. Now I am no scholar of history and definitely not of the Civil War, but I am just amazed by what learned there about what transpired in the end.

It seems that Lee finally decided that it was over for him, and that any continuation would lead to useless bloodshed; that it was best for both parties to end it. So, the surrender was negotiated, and it was signed it Appomattox. General Robert E. Lee met with General Ulysses S. Grant and from what I learned form my visit, the meeting was cordial between two generals who cared much about their troops. Lee wanted to make sure his troops did not go end up looting the countryside and Grant made sure they were not taken prisoners of war but allowed to go home and their family. This is so different from what we see and hear now on television from what is happening on television about Ukraine and the war crimes committed by Putin and his soldiers.

It seems that when Lee and Grant met, they were exchanging war stories and other tales. They had so much fun and were even joking around, that after an hour or so they had to be reminded that they were there for some serious business and to sign the surrender documents of the South to the North. Two generals who had been fighting tooth and nails were able to put things beside them and had fun during this serious moment when the south gave up its ambition. Later on, Washington Lee University was established, in a way of reminding folks that this was one country (again).

One of the random pictures I took during my visit in Appomattox this past week.  I recommend this to everyone, whether you are interested in the Civil War or not.

Leaving Appomattox, the thought just blew us (my wife and me) away how a New York City con artist has been able to rally folks in the south behind him, to believe that he was the next coming of Christ and therefore to vote for him as president. Since he was omnipotent, he could sleep around, grab them by the pussy, lie, and do whatever he wanted without consequences. Thanks to this con artist people now have less respect for their fellow humans; folks stormed the capital in order to stop the peaceful change of government; lied about the elections; there is less chivalry and comradery in this country then there was during Lee’s time, during the civil war. It makes you wonder doesn’t it; are we even more polarized now then back then, and is it all thanks to this con man? An emphatic YES here!

They say, “if you don’t learn from history, you are bound to repeat it.” I honestly wish we would repeat it and the past president would go away peacefully and behave like a gentleman. I have read commentaries which wonder whether another Civil War is near. Brace yourself folks, if so, I am afraid it is going to be a Putin/Ukraine type war as opposed to a more gentleman type war as was fought in the past Civil War, and as we know that was no boy scout trip.