November
I’m loving November and its quiet understatedness. It reminds me of Quaker events I’ve attended with Dan’s family where everyone sits silently and contemplatively in their pews and it’s all a little pleasantly boring. Then someone stands up to share, their voice ringing like a bell through the emptiness. Pay attention, the bell says; right here, this is enough.
Dan and I took a walk this morning and it was exactly like that. The trees were stark and undressed. The land had gone brown in a pleasantly boring way. We walked for 45 minutes without saying a word. And then I saw the rose hips – red pendants dangling from thorny stalks. They were shriveled and soft and as bright as any spring flower. It was a bell ringing, reminding me that right here is beauty and grace and connection; right here, this is enough.
I love the flashy circus of summer, every living thing thrumming its own tribute to life. And fall is a breathtaking caricature of irony, this final flare up of brilliance before death.
But in November it is finally quiet enough to notice the sky ringing the bluest bell of itself.
Or to see the clusters of pine needles sculpted in their own architectural feat of water and cellulose.
What was once drab is now a dozen shades of colorful.
Were we speaking of thankfulness?
November, I am grateful.
Lovely!
November – yes, season for noticing Small Things – reminding us of our connections to Deep Things
Thank you for these awarenesses!
November – yes, season for noticing Small Things – reminding us of our connections to Deep Things
Thank you for these awarenesses!
I love November. The quiet before the storm. I need to relax and enjoy it. Have a great Thanksgiving! xo
I love November. The quiet before the storm. I need to relax and enjoy it. Have a great Thanksgiving! xo
Yes! Beautiful.
Yes! Beautiful.
Such gorgeous descriptions, as always, and the photos are incredible. So sweet that you got to walk with your hubby, too. I love that you make time for that – it’s a reminder to me to do the same.
Such gorgeous descriptions, as always, and the photos are incredible. So sweet that you got to walk with your hubby, too. I love that you make time for that – it’s a reminder to me to do the same.
I love when I come here and you’ve written so beautifully about something that I relate to! We’ve been very rainy here. (Rain we have been needing.) And chilly. And I have been trying not to let it make me…grumpy. Just this morning I was walking to the car smelling a woodstove burning watching blue, blue pieces of sky peek through the gray clouds. And smiling. The smell of someone’s fire was my bell. To be here, not wishing the time away to a different season. And that here is more than enough. (Please remind me of this after our first ice or snow storm.)
I love when I come here and you’ve written so beautifully about something that I relate to! We’ve been very rainy here. (Rain we have been needing.) And chilly. And I have been trying not to let it make me…grumpy. Just this morning I was walking to the car smelling a woodstove burning watching blue, blue pieces of sky peek through the gray clouds. And smiling. The smell of someone’s fire was my bell. To be here, not wishing the time away to a different season. And that here is more than enough. (Please remind me of this after our first ice or snow storm.)
Your writing is my bell. :-)
Your writing is my bell. :-)
What a beautiful, beautiful Thanksgiving post! I am grateful to have read you!
What a beautiful, beautiful Thanksgiving post! I am grateful to have read you!
Thanks for the reminders to be thankful for all those things that are free and which we may take for granted.
Baba
Thanks for the reminders to be thankful for all those things that are free and which we may take for granted.
Baba
I love this. Thank you.
I love this. Thank you.
Wow! That’s one massive Elk leg! amazing….
Wow! That’s one massive Elk leg! amazing….
Your school days look amazing!! Way to go mama!!! – barefoot mama
Your school days look amazing!! Way to go mama!!! – barefoot mama