(I've been in the 'Burg since August 21st. Before that, I was in St. John from July 14th.)
Today I went for another hike/walk in the woods at Christman's Sanctuary, near my mother's house. Usually, Chui and I go by ourselves, but today my mom and her next door neighbor came along too. The weather was summery going in - sunny, warm, and strangely humid for this time of year. It's amazing how much plant matter there is here, how big and lush it all is, even so far into September. Apparently, NY had an incredibly rainy summer until mid-August or so, and you can see it in all the mutant flora. Just up the road from here, there are eight foot tall stalks of wild rice growing. Everywhere, the flowers are giants, their blossoms like babies' heads, their stems like volleyball players. It's all verdant and sublime, of course. And more than a little bit sinister: in one ear, Mary Oliver, Wordsworth; in the other, Al Gore, Nostradamus...
Today, the woods were full of bright orange salamanders. At first I didn't see any - just the dull mud of the path edged with mottled old leaves. And then, suddenly, there one was - orange as a road cone and tiny, exquisite. Glorious, amazing! I felt like Darwin in the Galapagos. My mom said to look out for more, and then there they were: I saw two more, then five, ten, whole bunches of them huddled under mushrooms like families under beach umbrellas. They behave far less nervously than the geckos in St. John, and they don't do pushups. They seem like more laid-back creatures altogether, and I wonder why that is.
There were loads of mushrooms as well - fleshy, multiform. Some were bright as the salamanders; others looked like beautiful wood that'd been carved, sanded, and stained; a few resembled human knees. (An aside: Lately, when I see a picture of a glamorous movie star in a short dress, I can't help but think that knees are a great leveler. No one has attractive knees - they're all kind of unfortunate-looking, and some are worse than others.) We found one that looked very oceanic - exactly like pipe organ coral, actually. It is called (I just looked this up) "coral mushroom". Genius. Ah, the humble detritivore.
All in all, it's been very pleasant being home with Chu. There is a special feeling in bringing one's offspring to one's childhood home for the first time, a certain rekindling of the memory, a re-widening of the eyes. Being with the parents is also nice. My mom can't stop talking about the purple asters (wildflowers) growing along the road and my dad can't stop taking photos of Chui. It stirs the soul a bit. The leaving will be sad, but I'm happy to be going back to Cape Town, where it will nearly be spring.
I foresee more boring plant-oriented posts.
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