The Orchard Gate

Today is the autumn equinox, the one day of the year the light and the dark are equal. I drew a card for it.

The lake is at its warmest in early September, so when the first cold mornings come the whole harbor steams. Out in the ditches the asters are the last thing blooming, the goldenrod has gone to seed, and the sumac has turned ahead of the maples, which will peak here in a couple of weeks. The milkweed pods have split. The monarchs went through two weeks ago.

It is called The Orchard Gate. The apple-oak is in fruit on one side and bare on the other, and between its roots is a door with a path going in. The fox is watching it. The geese are leaving, the milkweed is letting go, and the sun is on the lake right where it stands this morning, halfway between midsummer and midwinter. The windfalls at the bottom are the part of the harvest that goes back to the ground.

It is the second card in a set that follows the year around, one for each turn. The Green Man was midsummer. This one is the door into the dark half.

Happy equinox from the studio.

Don