— I have never found the companion as companionable as solitude.

Henry David Thoreau

I had dinner last evening with a gentleman who mentioned that he would be deer hunting this morning. He certainly chose a glorious Fall morning to do so. He might well be drawing his bow right now or, perhaps, just sitting patiently in a tree as I write these words.

Although Hunterdon County born and raised, I am not a hunter. I have no conviction against it. In fact, I have butchered more deer than most twenty deer hunters combined, but that was by occupation. In the meantime, there is one aspect of hunting that I’m all about.

I relish what the hunter does for most of his/her time while sitting in the tree, that being the quiet contemplation of the immediate surrounds. Thoreau probably would have called it ‘drinking in the soft influences of the canopy’.

And yes, I say “his/her” to expel any notion that deer hunters are male only. Regardless, if one sits ever so still, the entertainment is not always what was expected. Not long ago I was down in the woods sitting on my farm wheelchair (John Deere Gator).

Presently, along came two Possums, if nothing else on a morning stroll. They seemed to just be hanging out there in the woods, silently. Do Possums have conversations with each other? I suppose so, but I don’t speak Possumese . They sauntered by, not but five feet from the Gator, as though it had been there for a hundred years. Even up that close, not a word of Possumese was spoken.

How close, dear reader, have you ever gotten to a Possum ? You might well agree that few creatures are as ugly as your average Possum. And there’s nothing they can do about it. They can comb their spindley hair as much as they want. A coiffed Possum is still butt ugly !

Damn. Now I’m unsure where I was going with this. Distractions will occur with Possums. Interesting how an iPad will pick up on how the writer has spelled a word , even if misspelled or not in the dictionary.

Possumese is now a word, as rendered by my iPad. I’m not sure if that will make it any easier to learn. Joel Chandler Harris would have had a field day !