last daylilly, first turkey feather, change comes to northern michigan

Heralded by the hum of locusts, there's a change moving across my Northern Michigan garden like the softened sunlight of summer's end. I cut all the barren flower stalks of my daylilies noting that one had yet to bloom. It's finished now with its withered blossom hanging precariously.

And likewise a turkey feather appeared mysteriously on the drive. Every year in September the turkeys return from what we think is a summer gallivanting around Leelanau Peninsula. Initially they only roost, flapping into the trees over our deck with such clumsiness that they sound like a car crash. It seems they are attracted to watching us on the deck, as if we are performing an episode of Dallas or As the World Turns.

As frost and snow start to curb their buffet, they focus on the bird feeders serviced by my neighbors on either side. Our house becomes the turkey interstate between the fowl's food. We lost count at more than 50 turkeys last winter at the height of their occupation.

I'm not ready for turkeys to be traipsing past our windows, regardless of how much entertainment we each share watching the other. And to stave off fall's coming I plan on cramming as much as possible into these last few summer days ... stay tuned.