Reasons To Love November

This time of year is kind of one those in between stages....its getting cold and soon will be drab but we're not quite to the holidays. It starts to feel wintery but its not technically winter for weeks yet. Its a kind of a lull in the calendar...not much on the docket until Thanksgiving at the very end of the month. BUT, nothing is wasted....all things have meaning.

Why must we remember November? Let's delve.

Reasons Why November Is Fabulous:

1. It is stunning! Where I live, leaf color really only begins in October and every year the truly breathtaking color is this month....at least some of it is. We have incredible frosty mornings that make you shuffle into slippers and catch your breath and then blazing, golden afternoon with sunlight shooting through every window of the house and making the maple above the garage simply radiate.
2. Bulbs! I love my garden and I always think bulb planting is such fun. It feels special and happy but its easy and can be very cheap, depending on what you invest in. Even dollar stores sell bulbs in November. My boys all love when bulbs need planting because its such a simple thing that they can all help. 
3. Hot coffee, hot tea, roasts, pies, baked chicken, slow roasted beets.....its oven weather! Finally, I can cook all the things that I have been dreaming about all summer and it feels so wonderful to open the oven door to have a peek and have all that deliciously scented heat curl out at your face. 
4. Its Native Heritage Month. This is a hokey sounding official designation that became a little bit of a family tradition in our house after my friend Ashley started making a point to spend November looking into teaching more explicitly about native culture in her homeschool. The boys and I have so much fun learning about new tidbits, especially about the tribes that live and lived here in Connecticut. So many fascinating groups, traditions, crafts, songs, clothes and stories. This year, I am really hoping to get to the Mashanntucket Pequot Museum, which is up the coast from us and sounds amaaaaazing!
5. Its early holiday season but its feels like the legit holiday warm-up to me. I am scouting cookie recipes, thinking a little about gifts, making my birthday wishlist (I have a December birthday) and mulling over menu plans for big meals together with loved ones and friends. This is the fun part....before the crazy hits. 
6. Hiking season! This is my top, most favorite time of year for hiking. The weather is cool enough to not be sweaty on the trail but all the wildlife is out in full array, trying to get their larders and bellies packed before winter. And best of all...the horrible, terrifying, completely disgusting ticks that carry Lyme's Disease so rampantly around here....are hiding because the weather gets too chilly for them. YAY!!!!!!
7. Gratitude gets the spotlight. I love this new trend of conscious and specific gratitude and right now everyone is all trending on Facebook with their daily November thankful posts. Sure, sometimes its annoying that every goes trite, starting with their family and having food and clothes but I love the thought and the occasionally sparkling and sincere grateful clarity about specific things in the lives of those I love. I try to use my Instagram account for a goal of making at least one daily post about some thing I was grateful for that day....and this month...I feel invigorated. 'Tis the season!
8. Darker evenings. I know that its hard on my mood and everyone I know complains but I have to say that having a mug of evening tea or a fire in the fireplace with the velvet black in every window is 10 x's better than the bright summer night athmosphere. Also, getting four boys to actually sleep is soooooo much easier when it actually gets dark. I have to say, despite the fact that I am posting this at 1 in the morning....I'm totally ready for bed myself every night in the the post Daylight Savings time of year. Cozy. 
9. Its Interior Decorating season. This time of year always has me re-invigorated about my house, renovation, moving furniture to different spots and painting things. I've been outside all summer...I'm ready to feather my nest. My new obsession is the show, Rehab Addict, a Netflix available, old house refurbishing kind of a thing with a young, blonde, mama lead character who brings old homes back to life while juggling the Little League schedule. I love it.
10. New Linens. I try to replace some linens in the my house that need a little love every year in November. Most years I buy myself a new pillow (I like them nice and fluffy), its my personal indulgence. This year, I saved up and treated myself to a batch of new, white bath towels. November is a good month to snuggle down. 

Loving The Hard Work Of Things

Whoops! Its tomorrow. I truly didn't mean to stay up quite that late.

When A is gone time becomes strangely plastic for me. I am astounded, even embarrassed by how much his existence keeps me on a schedule. Somehow, knowing that he is coming home at a certain time or that he is trying to get to the gym in the morning or that he will want to eat at such and such an hour is a major motivator for me. I'm glad that I care about him and notice what he wants and needs, I'm a little concerned (hence the embarrassment) that as much as I thrive on a schedule and feel that I own my own use of routine and timing....its rather quick to fall away and become a mangled mess as soon as A is out of the house. I am finding it terribly hard to do most any of the usual things with my former vigor: getting up on time, having proper meals, making sure the kids clear the table, getting the animals fed bright and early, etc. Someone tell me this does not equate to a complete lack of moral fiber and starch on my part. Anyone?

We did manage to get the chicken coop totally finished! I forgot to take a nice shot of the finished coop....I'll have to add one later in the week. Its incredibly nice, almost absurdly nice, really. The six hens seem to have settled right in and made themselves at home. They are laying without interruption and no longer having riots at the fence and trying to all moshpit themselves out the door everytime I open the pen. I'm glad to see them so occupied and happy. They're now stationed right next to the compost pile which is giving them lots of good material to scratch about in and for a chicken....life couldn't be sweeter than living in a redwood mansion over a pile of kitchen waste. Good times abound.

The boys are doing all kinds of little handicraft projects lately. Ru has been dabbling in woodcarving after one of our recent readalouds featured a Swiss woodcarver, Dee has discovered detailed paper cutting and paper chains and Nib is really into coloring books and has started some of his first clearly representational art lately. Even Pom has begun drawing his own little crayon scribble storms on paper....and only once in Sharpie on a dining room chair which I think is a pretty good score. I would love to get all of them to do a little bit of some kind of art to use for Christmas presents this year. Have to mull over how to work it all in. So many wonderful things to make and do in the world.

Off to bed now before the gremlins get me! I've got a full day tomorrow and brand new towels that I bought myself for a treat which require a hot shower during some mama alone-time early in the morning. Somebody remind me to let go of my insane need to procrastinate and actually stay on track with my schedule tomorrow. My guitar teacher wisely quipped this past week....."one of the great keys to life is to learn to find real motivation and personal pleasure in the practice and work of life because that is most of life." I feel the need. Have to figure out how that works and what you do to switch your inner switch.

Exhausted In The Autumn

So tired tonight, y'all. So tired. Also....it is 30 minutes past midnight and maybe that has something to do with it.

A and I have been slowly making shifts in our marriage and parenting plans...most of which are about more equality, more honesty, more acceptance. The upside is that I am getting more concrete help around the house, and being more verbal and truthful about what I need. The downside is that these California Weeks are SO MUCH HARDER!!!! Its amazing how much support one other grown-up who truly cares about you can be after a day of complete immersion with kids. Children are drowning in the drama and stress of growing and learning and being small and wanting to be big. Its super draining to be around. My poor sister Lockbox has been kind of shell-shocked by the enormity of living with that whole business.

After marinading in all that crazy, its immensely powerful to have another human adult be with you at the end of the day when the house is finally quiet. Its out of sight to have another human who washes the dishes while you put boys in pajamas, who turns down the bed while you put in a load of wash, who makes you a mug of tea while you change into pajamas. The thought of having that again after these California Weeks makes me cry....every single time.

Tonight is just one of those nights. I cried on the phone with A. I cried after I hung up. I am too tired, and I will feel better after I sleep. Also I am hormonal which never helps. (Must drink balancing herbal teas!) But truth, guys....being loved and supported is such a wonderful and important thing for me. I feel very lucky and can't believe that it took this long in our marriage to figure this out. Life is weird.

Tonight, as I tuck myself in and enjoy my starfish sleep positions....I'm sending out mad, mad props to you single mamas. You are heroes....I have no idea how you do it. Wanna grab coffee?