November 11th, 1918 Tuesday, Nov 11 2014 

Uncategorized , , acairfearann 13:20

23 November 1918
La Neufor (near St. Menehould, France.)
My Dear Dad and All:
It seems strange to start a letter by naming a town, and stranger still this town, for this is where we started the great drive through the Argonne Forest to the Meuse, which we had crossed when the Boche quit.
…Since August 10th this regiment has slept under the open sky, right up until the 11th of November. On August 10th we went in on the Vesle River and scrapped there and to the Aisne. As soon as the Aisne was reached we came here, or rather to Givry in trucks, and started the greatest forest fighting in history.
…We have not had the publicity or the limelight of some others but Gen’l Pershing has said, “there is no better in the army and none that can be banked on to accomplish its task as well as the 77th.” That’s praise enough for us, and history will tell the story someday.
…Sept. 20th at 5 A.M. was the start of the attack with artillery. Lordy! How they did roar….The Argonne is as thick a woods as you have ever seen; steep ravines covered with thick underbrush, and it was defended by the 120th division Landwehr troops, who had been in these same woods for eighteen months. They were a first-class division, and made up of woodsmen who knew every path and trick in those damnable woods…
I’ll never go into the woods again or underbrush without my heart in my throat. It was literally impossible to discover a machine gun nest except by the sudden cutting down of yourself or someone else. The manual says that machine gun nests shall be destroyed by ‘flank attacks and by the use of hand and rifle grenades and the 37 mm. gun” Oh Jay! The man or board who wrote that knows nothing. Did he ever try to throw a ball and have his arm caught by brush? Or fire a rifle grenade which would be stopped by woods in ten feet? Or pull the lanyard on a 37mm gun knowing that the shell would explode as soon as it left the muzzle? You can bet something he wasn’t thinking of the Argonne. ‘Use your auxiliary arms” Another joke. The arms you used were your own and twenty-two days of hand to hand fighting was what we got. The regiment got just that and ended up with the brilliant and expensive taking of St. Juvin and Hill 182. That was in the open, wide open, and it was this that carried men forward who were so worn and weary that they would sleep when halted under the heaviest kind of shell fire. It was the relief after being stifled by underbrush and woods that made us take that hill and carried two and part of another battalion against three regiments of Germans – youngsters this time of a Guard Division – and we licked them to a standstill. Two regiments of Hell’s children counter-attacked…and they were literally beaten to death, those that didn’t get by as prisoners.
I’ll never forget the days of October 10th and 14th. It took twelve of my best friends in the regiment that one afternoon of the 14th, but they died the most glorious death in the world and we mourn them not….
…As for staying in the army, no. I’ve done enough. I’m tired, so damned tired I’ll never get rested it seems to me. Personally, the war has brought me knowledge of men and things, what they think even without their speaking. It has brought me a greater love for my country, it has brought me the satisfaction of doing my job well, and Dad, I’m through.
Will see you soon
Your affectionate son,
Bradford.
(Captain Bradford Ellsworth, Intelligence Officer, 306th Regiment, 77th Infantry Division)

 

The muse Monday, Nov 10 2014 

gardening , acairfearann 18:10

has left the building or something. So you are stuck with a picture again. This time a set of highly confused Christmas cacti blooming like mad. Naturally, they will be done by Thanksgiving, which is when there are guests this year. Grrr.

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November night Saturday, Nov 8 2014 

Landscapes acairfearann 20:35

The last cloud shattered light
Burnt out the hurrying leaves
From barren trees
All was fallen down to night

 

Seasons change Wednesday, Nov 5 2014 

gardening and Landscapes and Modern Photos , , acairfearann 23:03

Hard to believe that this:

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Was this back in June!

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Warning Politics Wednesday, Nov 5 2014 

Uncategorized acairfearann 15:26

Without comment, aside from noting that ‘blue state’ is somewhat inaccurate at the town level! Pity that the various politicians of all stripes won’t address the divide. Who’s right? H— if I know.

http://www.courant.com/data-desk/hc-map-race-for-governor-townbytown-20141104-htmlstory.html

 

Ginkgo Tuesday, Nov 4 2014 

gardening and Modern Photos and Trees and Uncategorized , , acairfearann 22:52

Still! waiting on frost here, let alone cold enough temperatures to make the ginkgoes drop while green; so we get to enjoy the lovely pure gold (and the easier clean-up). The big* ginkgo is a tree we just don’t think of as ‘big’; it barely hits 60 feet, which when surrounded by 80-100 foot giants isn’t much. But it definitely is getting broader in the crown, particularly to the south and east. Again not easy to notice, because of its position on the northeast corner of the house. You only really see it from down in the meadow, when one notices how the big pines are now solidly hidden, aside from their tops of course!

*The little ginkgo is spreading like mad, but mysteriously lost its leader two years ago and shows no sign of regrowth, apparently it will be much, much wider than tall.

Here is a view looking up into the big ginkgo a few days ago, before it went solidly gold. The gold works in from the edges of the leaf, so the wonderful scallop pattern of the leaves is at its most prominent for just a week or so in the fall. It also works in from the top/sides of the tree, so the core is greener than the top.

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Winter? Monday, Nov 3 2014 

Esperanza and Modern Photos acairfearann 22:01

Not here yet….weird, we still haven’t had a frost here!

But, I am sure it will come, so in preparation here is a picture from a few years ago:

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Japanese Maples Sunday, Nov 2 2014 

gardening and Landscapes and Modern Photos , , acairfearann 20:29

Japanese Maples aren’t usually planted for their fall color, which is a pity. Our various seedlings tend to fall into two types of color: pure scarlet or flame orange. (and a lot of muddy ones where the red just doesn’t quite do it, but is definitely red) A few are orange. The greener the bark, the oranger the coloration in the fall. In general, the orange/green have relatively green summer foliage, which is probably why they are less common (until recently we tended to select on the basis of summer foliage).  For one reason or another, we decided to plant two rather nice green ones flanking the drive, I decided I liked them, and we have since added several more. Which means that we have succeeded, somewhat not accidentally in developing what (in several decades) will be a real grouping of orange maples in the Rabbit Hole drive, an accomplishment that really was only apparent this year, as several are very small still.  The fall color, no surprise, comes from the two different parents, along with the trunk/twig coloration. The orange seems to come from the fine cut-leafed dwarf maple parent, the red from the bigger, rather coarsely cut full sized parent. The red is always a pure color with no shading on the leaf. The orange tends to shade towards the veins/edges, creating an appearance similar to Stewartia or Dogwoods, where the tree is not a single color.

Unfortunately, the coarser shape appears to be the dominant gene in determining leaf shape, though the orange ones are slightly finer. Only one ever approached the parent type, and it died on me (naturally). Red is also the more common fall color.

Red:

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Orange: (all of these are still fairly small), but you can see the green cast to the bark on branches over about 2 years in age, which is the giveaway; the reds have purple bark.

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Your not random photo Friday, Oct 31 2014 

gardening and Modern Photos , , acairfearann 17:42

One of today’s accomplishments was lifting the gladioli. A number had doubled and or made little bulblets, so it was a good year for them. Now if I can just figure out how to store them this year in a rodent proof fashion…

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And sometimes you lose Thursday, Oct 30 2014 

gardening acairfearann 17:33

For the last few years, we have had remarkable success with keeping the critters at bay.  Until a few days ago, that is. In the span of the last two days: a 30 foot square patch of crocus, half a row of kale, the majority of the chard, about a third of the parsley, whatever peas were left, the tops of the carrots and parsnips, some sections of oakleaf hydrangea, one yew, and (most insulting) one, prized turban type winter squash.

The crocus was a vole family, the squash probably mice, the rest were deer* in the vegetable garden.  Measures have been taken to deal with this ranging from moving the rest of the squash, to Mole Med (a castor oil based product) in the crocus, to the ever pleasant Liquid Fence for the deer. What I would like to know with the latter is, why does the wind always shift so I get it on me?

It could have been worse, the umbrella pine, hollies, azaleas, English oaks, and various other slow growing things were not chewed on.  Still!

 

*The temptation to take a pot shot from the back porch is strong….

 

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