Could this be old goldenrod? It doesn’t seem likely since at the time I took this photo, there was still a little lingering yellow goldenrod on the forest fringe. Whatever it is, I like it because it is a sort of guidepost for the season. The beauty and abundance of the growing months are over. Now a leaner, more stark beauty will take hold for a while.

We did not make it down to Roundrock for our semi-traditional day-after-Thanksgiving visit and campfire. Other interests among the majority lead us in a different direction last Friday. The next chance for a visit will be this coming weekend, which will mean that the entire month of November has passed without a trip to the woods. I grit my teeth and face this gruesome reality, but it is nearly unbearable. You should all feel great pity for me.

As you know if you read Sunday’s post, I’m currently re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird. I love the narrative voice along with all of the other qualities of the book. Anyway, I came upon the word “touchous” on one of the pages (as I’m sure I had the three other times I’d read the book) and marveled at it. In context it meant “touchy” and I was glad to add it to my personal lexicon. It seems to be a regional word more usually found in the Carolinas, eastern Tennessee and Kentucky (my idyllic boyhood summers were in western Kentucky), and West Virginia. These are all places that I have verified really do exist despite their unlikely sounding names. Curiously, I had come across the word “tetchy” in several of the Iris Murdoch novels I have read, and in context it has meant “touchous.” I love this kind of word migration.

Anyway, I feel a bit touchous since I haven’t been to the woods in so long.

Missouri calendar:

• The Missouri Natural Events Calendar is blank yet again, and that leaves me feeling tetchy.

Posted by: Roundrockjournal    Source

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