Nature Journal, The First Year (2005)

Here are the pages of my nature journal from the year we moved into Dragonwood.

Autumn Equinox, Sep.22

Saw beans harvested today.
September is the time of berries.
False Solomon's Seal - red, they start out pale and turn wine-red at the end of the stalk.
Solomon's Seal - blue-black, all along the stalk.
Jack-in-the-Pulpit - bright red clublike clusters, no leaves.

Acorns and hickory nuts are falling. Squirrels scramble among the trees. Yellow and brown leaves fall to the driveway. Still, there's lots of green in the tree canopy.

The sun in the morning makes the East stide of the tree trunks glow orange.

Kitty keeps catching mice.
Mist/Fog embraces us in the morning.

September 25

Rain all day. Really pouring tonight. More yellow and brown leaves fall. The huge pawpaw leaves glisten, water falling from their dark green surfaces. We harvested and ate their fruit earlier this month. The fruit drops when it is greenish yellow and quite soft. Mice have been coming into the house in droves. I haven't seen or heard the wrens for a while. We still hear the owls, though. Temperatures are predicted to drop. No Daddy Long-legs in the house any more. Still lots of moths. Lacewings, too. A squirrel was swinging from the branches out back. All this rain makes the earth a muddy mess. Burrs are brown, small, and harder to find. Still some mosquitoes, though fewer.

September 28

Took a walk last night with [Faerygirl] and [the Lord]. Ate small soybeans from an unharvested field. Milkweed pods along the ditch - not open yet, though. Bright star/panet low in the Western sky. Crickets chirping in a different, softer tone than summer. Very cool in the night, but in the woods it is still and warm. [Faerygirl] caught another walking stick, skinny and in its dark lacquered-brown phase. Much of the field is brown and dry, although there are still a few plants flowering here and there.

More oak leaves are falling to the driveway now. The diversity of fallen leaves increases daily.

Skies are still my favorite crisp blue. Saw a white roundworm in a puddle.

October 6

Saw a tree tipped with red yesterday. Can smell skunk in the woods. Field mice invading my home. Kitty had 2 last night. Virginia creeper turning red. A few trees are almost bare. Hickory nuts hang precariously in trees. They drop to the ground, crashing like mini bombs. Chipmunks and squirrels are quite active. Bees are meaner. Saw a huge fox on my way home last night. Mournful sounds in the air - owls like harbingers of bad news, coyote howls like lost souls, nervous crickets forecasting their end. Weak crane flies observed. This is the time of the spider. The beasts are becoming more competitive, more saveage, eager to protect themselves against the ravages of Winter.

October 16

The pawpaw trees/bushes are turning yellow. There are more trees crowned with yellow and red all about the countryside. Most of the fields are now harvested. Cooler temperatures, but pleasant and appropriate for Fall. Much of the undergrowth is dry and withering. Nuts continue to fall heavily. We still hear owls at night and squirrels chattering in the daytime. I've seen more beasts crossing the road - deer, possums, coons, foxes. Milkweed seeds fluff out - here they grew near the thistle patch. The woods is warm at night - warmer and stiller than the fields at night. When the wind blows from the North, we feel the "breath of the Dragon." Gleaned corn and husks (for corn dolls) from the harvested fields.

November 3

The field out back was harvested last night. It's one of the last cornfields to go. Maple trees are ablaze with yellow, some tipped with red. Not too many nuts now - they've all been "squirreled" away. Big deer tracks in the dirt lead from the woods to the field. Mornings are dark. The sun goes down about 5:30 P.M. But the stars are brilliant. Venus appears low in the west, Mars comes out low in the east. Last night, an owl hooted frantically. There are still green leaves among the yellow and brown undergrowth, usually low to the ground. Still some insects on warm days - lady beetles, yellow jackets, flies, and mosquitoes. Driveway is BEAUTIFUL, paved with fallen leaves.

The Dragon

She is Real, you know. Nearly everyone we have invited to our land has seen her.

I first became aware of the Dragon through intuition. Since the Lord and I previously dwelt where copious amounts of rainfall could cause problems, I took a drive out to Dragonwood after a large rain. Our current backyard was a river, and it was of utmost concern to check how our new land fared. Fortunately, although it parts of our property are wetland woods, the area where we planned to build our home was dry. I drove on by, relieved and ready to keep moving on to visit my nephew on his birthday.

Suddenly, unbidden, an image flashed into my mind's eye. It was a red animal, a salamander or lizardlike creature. Such a brilliant red! I let myself picture the beast with pleasure as I drove along. How shocked I was, when I stopped to pick up a ball for my nephew, to find a huge red lizard/salamander stuffed toy in this small drugstore. It was exactly like the creature of my imagination! Of course I picked it up, and it haunts the back of my couch to this day.

However, the real manifestation of the Dragon was still to be discovered.


One day, fully exploring the land we had purchased, all of us stood still in wonder. Faerygirl, the Lady, and the Lord each saw Her. She stood, mighty and tall at the edge of the wetlands. Her great mouth gaped wide enough to engulf a man's arm, her large eye seemed to stare right at us, and her nostril flared. Smoke streamed upwards, and her thick horns stuck out behind. I loved her immediately and went right up to her. She was definitely the Guardian of our land, whose presence I had felt from the beginning. Who could now deny that ours was an Enchanted Forest?

Over the years, many have come to visit the Dragon. Some bring her gifts, some speak to her or embrace her, some merely laugh in wonder. Sadly, the tree in which she manifested did decay last winter, and the Dragon lay on the ground. But never fear! My heroic Knight, the Lord of Dragonwood, rescued her with his White Avalanche. Now she waits her magnificent return, drying and dreaming in the garage, until the Manor is built and she may grace its entry.


When she is in residence once again, feel free to bring her a gift! And remember to respect the woods, and all that dwell within it, for this place is the home of a True Dragon.

A Fateful Meeting

The Lord and the Lady of Dragonwood were not always so. Once, they had been a young couple living on a hill in a country that experienced occasional flooding. They had a small daughter and dreams of building their own house. The perfect location, according to the future Lord, would have woods and a stream and a south-facing open spot. As they pursued their dream, the couple journeyed many miles. One day, they came to Dragonwood. At that time, Dragonwood had been parcelled into three lots, and one of them had been sold. Walking the wild land blessed the future Lady's heart. There was no stream, but the Lord-to-be found the layout quite enticing. However, the price of the land seemed too dear. They walked away from the opportunity. But Dragonwood stirred, and she found a way into their dreams.

Of course, you know the end of this story. Dragonwood was still waiting for us a year later. I had been working and adding to the family coffers, and my husband learned how to negotiate a good deal. We bought Dragonwood for a price we were willing to pay. Thus our stewardship of Dragonwood began.

Once Upon a Time...

There languished a small bit of woodland in the middle of the cornfields. Once, it had been part of a wild marshy forest that stretched as far as the eye could see. It was home to deer, wolves, wild cats, hawks, owls, herons, ichneumons, tiger beetles, and mosquitoes. Some of these creatures still haunted the forest, but some had been killed off. Over time, Abraham Lincoln surveyed the land, and gypsies camped among the great trees. Lovers carved their initials into a beech tree. Many generations of men came to hunt game and harvest from the abundant sugar maples. As the years passed, the forest was logged, and trimmed back until it only covered a few acres. It became surlier as habitat disappeared and humans left their rubbish all over. Grumpy gnomes brooded in the stumps along the roadsides. The Pookahs perched in the trees, gleefully terrorizing anyone who dared to overnight in the forest. The pixies and Faeries misled wanderers with their barely-heard music. And the Dragon slumbered and dreamed of another world...