noticing

The Cricket's Song 

When all around from out the ground 

The little flowers are peeping, 

And from the hills the merry rills 

With vernal songs are leaping, 

I sing my song the whole day long

In woodland, hedge, and thicket-- 

And sing it, too, the whole night through, 

For I 'm a merry cricket. 

The children hear my chirrup clear 

As, in the woodland straying, 

They gather flow'rs through summer hours-- 

And then I hear them saying: 

"Sing, sing away the livelong day, 

Glad songster of the thicket--

With your shrill mirth you gladden earth, 

You merry little cricket!" 

When summer goes, and Christmas snows

Are from the north returning, 

I quit my lair and hasten where 

The old yule-log is burning. 

And where at night the ruddy light

Of that old log is flinging 

A genial joy o'er girl and boy, 

There I resume my singing. 

And, when they hear my chirrup clear, 

The children stop their playing-- 

With eager feet they haste to greet 

My welcome music, saying: 

"The little thing has come to sing 

Of woodland, hedge, and thicket-- 

Of summer day and lambs at play-- 

Oh, how we love the cricket!"

                                        ---Eugene Field

I chose this poem for our Nature Study Club today, to be read before we commence a study of crickets.  Crickets have been abundant this year, and until this year I haven't quite appreciated them.  Tiny Chirpy, our first cricket pet, is happily chirping this as I type this post, in the lightening dawn of a new morning.  We've acquired several other cricket pets this autumn, but none of the males have been as noisy as Tiny Chirpy.  I can hear cars driving by our house wetly, so I'll need to check the forecast before we venture out.  Right now it just looks misty in the dim light, not rainy.

Fall is here, despite the warm afternoons.  Instead of sweet tea, I drink a hot decaf macchiato after lunch, in a tiny mug from some dear friends.  I think about those friends as I sip and stitch on a sampler.  I finished the third one last night, and promptly began "Leaves by Hundreds Came".  The plan is to finish in time for Thanksgiving, so that our mantel can look more festive.  

The maple outside my bedroom window is now almost entirely orange, but when I took the photo of the mittens blocking a few days ago it still had so much green.  I've been noticing that the trees in our area change color from the top down.  I wonder of that's the way it has always happened, and I'm just now noticing?  Probably.