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MARTHA SEZ: ‘Now … we can plan for Thanksgiving. And Christmas.’

It’s so dark! It’s starting to snow! We haven’t had frost yet in Keene Valley as I write this column, but I believe we will by the time the paper goes to press.

As it happens most years, there will be a killing frost to put a stop to our gardens — If you haven’t given up on your tomatoes yet, this is it — and then it will warm up again.

Only the other day we could sit out on the porch barefoot and in short sleeves, sipping a cool drink and watching the grass grow as we batted away mosquitoes. Did you see the dragonflies when they swarmed, zooming through the air all around?

I recently learned they were chasing mosquitoes, an integral part of their diet. Who knew? Next summer I will remember to be grateful to them.

Indian summer is predicted for later this week, clear skies and warm temperatures, once the last of the flowers and vegetables have given up the ghost. At least we won’t have to worry about them anymore; it’s always kind of a relief for me.

Time to plant bulbs for next spring, keeping in mind how deer love tulips. After a long, cold, hungry winter, deer see tulips as lollipops set out as a special treat just for them. Deer are red/green color blind, though, so the vivid red, yellow and orange of the petals mean nothing to them.

I have never known them to eat daffodils. With deer, of course, you never know.

This month, a rare, bright comet — Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas (pronounced Choo-Cheen-Shahn Atlas), to be more specific — can be seen in both the northern and southern hemispheres. The brightest comet in almost 30 years, Tsuchinshan-Atlas should be visible in the west with the naked eye about an hour after sunset through the end of October.

The comet is named for the observatories in China and South Africa that discovered it last year. It came from what’s known as the Oort Cloud way out in space past Pluto. After this trip past Earth, it won’t return for another 80,000 years, if ever. Don’t wait up.

Which reminds me, I missed seeing the northern lights last week, only because I went to bed. Skies were clear, and the Adirondacks, due to a lack of city lights, and the Christmas lights not up yet, was deemed a good place for viewing. Totally my own choice, but now I’m jealous of everyone who did see them. I’ve heard that Finland, Iceland and Norway are the best places to see the northern lights, in case you missed them too.

This week, October’s Hunter’s Moon, the closest to Earth (at perigee) of any full moon this year, will shine more brightly than any other in 2024. A super moon appears about 30% brighter and 15% bigger than a full moon at its farthest point from Earth (at apogee). Officially, the moon will be full at 7:26 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 17, when it will reach its peak brightness. Sunrise, however, will be at 7:13 that day, so we’ll have to wait until night falls to see the moon rising in the east. It will rise at dusk and set at dawn in the constellation Pisces, and will appear bright and full the nights before and after as well.

Halloween is coming up, and people, especially young people, are making or buying costumes. My sister is surprised how far some of us drive in order to buy candy in large, economy-sized bags.

“You really are out in the country!” she says. When I lived near Keene Central School, on the most-traveled trick or treat route, I enjoyed seeing all the children in their costumes, but now I don’t get many Halloween beggars, as we used to call them.

There will always be some people who refuse to collude with candy-giving, even on Halloween, choosing instead to give out improving and instructive items like apples and school supplies, which the eager children fling into the bushes as they run on to the next house.

Well, since Columbus/Indigenous Peoples’ Day is over, now that peak leaf color is muted, now that the summer people and the hummingbirds and monarch butterflies have fled south for the season and the northern lights are gone, for who knows how long, an unpredictable amount of time, we can plan for Thanksgiving. And Christmas.

Have a good week!

(Martha Allen, of Keene Valley, has been writing for the News since 1996.)

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