seeing and hearing november

November brought steady rainfall as well as glorious days of sunlight on color.  I choose to stay outdoors as much as possible on the days that were fair. The pleasant job of setting the garden to rest began in earnest with pulling up the zinnia and nasturtium plants that finally succumbed to the cold night's freeze as well as the snipping and cutting back of the other plants and herbs in the garden beds. November is also a time to plant bulbs in the still soft earth looking forward to the hopeful arrival of daffodils, tulips and crocuses yet several months away.  Intrusive leaf blowers were certainly heard, either your own or your neighbors at any time during the day for weeks on end.

This Thanksgiving morning I was antsy quite early to get outside for a walk; the sky was pewter gray as I set out, yet I expected the sun to be shining by the time I got back to the house.  I observed the few tenacious dusky leaves that remained on the tress.

Home to preparing the breakfast I had promised my husband.

From here the photos stop, therefore, seeing the wonderful foods gracing the Thanksgiving table at Witt and Claire's house are not possible. The happy family time that followed kept my mind on other things besides picking up my camera to snap pictures. The voices of excited children as we arrived, the stirring of the gravy in a cast iron pan with Breanna by my side being given careful instruction. Imagine a vase of bright sunflowers in the center of the table, cinnamon ornaments with our written names on them set in the middle on each plate, and the abundance of delicious traditional foods surrounding us. Hear the prayers and the giving of thanks to our loving Father in Heaven.

a november junket and afternoon tea

"Now in November, the leaves spread cloth of gold and red on the ground. The open fields take on a cinnamon tone and the wild blackberry canes in the swamp are frosted purple."

Gladys Taber

The Stillmeadow Road

                                                                                                                         

At sunrise the sky displayed a most gorgeous tangerine glow and as I stopped at the window to get a fuller view of its boldness, I knew it was only  teasing because the skies were going to be grey, but windless, on this cold day. Regardless, my husband had invited me to ride to the mountains with him and I had no reason to cavil the weather.
Along the highways our eyes caught  the beauty of the leaves muted tones, and even those trees that had mostly shed the whole of their colorful coats were grand. A stop was made first thing, a call on a customer by my husband while I sat in the car snug as a bug in a rug and knitted. Soon enough we were on our way enjoying the quaintness of this little town's downtown, moseying through an antique shop and finally stopping to buy Made in the USA socks from a favorite factory outlet.

And to put a finishing touch on our fine November junket, we stopped for afternoon tea/late lunch in a stately, elegant turn of the century house. 

On the way home I read aloud a chapter from The Stillmeadow Road.

a woolen sweater and lemon verbena

A cold morning, hence the woolen sweater, and my past week's herb harvestings deemed a morning's sweet chare of stripping the dried crunchy, fragrant leaves from the  lemon verbena's woody stems. 

I will jar up these pungent leaves and use them in teas and potpourri. 

Yarn Along and noted things

Knitting and reading, yes, I am very pleased to be able to have the sound mind and healthy hands to do both, though not simultaneously. And pleased I am to join in with Ginny's monthly Yarn Along.  I knitted all month and I read all month, most of the time in tiny starts and stops amongst a month of noting the shortening daylight and the preparations necessary for the colder weather that follows these shorter days. The progress on my knitting, however small, is rightly noted.

I am making a dent in the gray wrapper, and the anticipation of wearing it is almost like waiting for Christmas. You want it to hurry up and get here, but the delight in the before days is nothing short of wonderful.

     

My most recent read was a book by J.L. Carr, A Month in the Country, from start to finish a novel consisting of only a 111 pages. I appreciated the story told in this novel and looked forward to picking it up nightly, but sometimes by reading it late at night I felt like I might have cheated myself of the depths of its message. A note to remind myself to pick up this book and revisit it one summer while at the beach.

And the socks are a pair I began last winter and set aside for other handwork. This is the season to pick them up once again as a carry along project even though now that Charlotte is driving I am not leaving the house allowing me little bits of time to knit while waiting for her.

Things change.

 One other thing I would like to note here: I am knitting these socks in Malabrigo Sock yarn on Signature   2.5 double point needles. Last year for my birthday I ask for a set of these needles, because they are that expensive and must be deemed a gift!

I can not say I totally like them, but then it might be the yarn, which while lovely it is very soft and slick.