Monday, November 22, 2010

28 degrees here on the mountain with slight wind spurts and freezing rain. The car and truck are iced over and the morning is on cue with last night's prediction. Karl the Wonder Dog is sleeping in this morning which makes me happy as just getting down the steps looks challenging. Twitter messages confirm that things get worse as one drops below our 1530 foot elevation.

Yesterday afternoon Karl and I drove over to Kettle Pond for a walk. It was an immediate reminder how busy I have been since spring as during my last visit there were 6 foot snow banks and visitors were sliding around on snowshoes. The trail had received lots of attention from the conservation youth group destined to turn it into a handicapped accessible walk to the portage area. Nice job this past summer.

Although the sun was setting quickly, we enjoyed the walk and the reminder of all the native plants and shrubs that surround any of the glacial ponds in the area. I was not pleased with seeing cigarette butts litter the trail or some of the "off-trail" paths people had made to pick and dig things they shouldn't. It immediately reminded me of a sign on top of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. People need reminders to keep things clean and stay on the paths.
The picture up top is Kettle Pond at the height of foliage a couple years back. It has some primitive, hike-in lean-to camping sites and some nesting loons on the far end in late spring each year. Below here is the reminder sign from Acadia.

Wherever you visit, remember to respect what you find and "Leave No Trace".


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the next two days of warmer weather
will probably turn into a greeting card for winter.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
Try gardening some of the social networking sites too! We are on Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa. Access us on Twitter at vtflowerfarm

External To Vermont

Friday, October 15, 2010

After 2 PM and the rain has let up a little. The temperature has dropped to 37.8° and the wind comes in little bursts from 2 to 5 mph. The tall goldenrod, now flowerless, sway back and forth in the breeze, nodding right, then left. My neighbor persists in bringing in firewood with his tractor. He must be wet and cold to the bone after doing this since 10 AM. He's bringing in next year's wood but couldn't have picked a much nastier day to get ahead.

Sometimes it's good to step back and look at yourself and what you do from afar. I do that once in a while and I do not ask for feedback during the process. Questions expect answers and some of that is no one's business. During the week I might walk into my woods and sometimes I drive a bit into the state forest and walk where I have never walked before. Curiosity of difference draws out new insight into life and it helps me see some things more clearly. Sometimes I even leave Vermont altogether and that's what I did this week.

Downeast Maine is a difficult concept for some and I won't go there. You figure it out. Acadia National Park is mid coast to me and that's where you'll find Cadillac Mountain, a place I have been known to enjoy. I liked it a bunch more before thousands of people appeared there by bus, car, RV, bicycle and feet, each competing for mountain space relative to their mode of travel. Just the same I headed there this week.

Cadillac Mountain is a wide open place where the sun and the moon play interesting games. I just like to walk down the mountain and find a stone pocket others might avoid and sit there and watch the ocean. I also like to walk around looking at the plants, insects, birds and other critters that survive there.

At the ocean's edge is Bar Harbor, an old city that in more recent years began inviting luxury liners to visit. There is mixed review from the locals about what this has done to the town's infrastructure but it's a reality now that may not go away. Only two liners waited in the harbor compared to 5 on a previous visit.

I would not think of visiting the mountain during the tourist season as being in lines of traffic is why I live on a mountain in Vermont. Fall foliage apparently has great interest as the top parking lot and the lower observatory lot were full when I arrived as I knew they would be. I waited for a parking space. I drove in from Ellsworth and as soon as I left there traveling down Route 3, there was a constant line of traffic leaving Acadia.

I spent two hours up top and never once saw anyone I knew. Lots of people shared smiles and pleasantries but that's where it stayed. If you could temporarily erase the blue sky and ocean from your thoughts, you might think you were at a camera club meeting or a camera manufacturers convention. ..but I wasn't.

There is a magnificence to Cadillac Mountain that warrants respect and a visit. If you have been to Yellowstone you can understand park traffic. Visit anyway--at least once.



Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where our hostas have senesced. This includes one named Cadillac, pictured below. I don't sell it any more as it is slow for me. I don't think the name is related to the mountain....maybe the car?....maybe the Frenchman in Detroit?

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener

Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as George Africa and also as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm

Cadillac, the hosta
(In the middle)