November 1st

Happy November! I say this knowing full well that this is not my favorite month of the year. Not much chance of winter snow yet, darker days, twinges of guilt about outdoor work not yet finished. What's there to love??

Well now, I wake up to a gently sunny morning. The crab tree is in its last days of golden glory. 

It's so darn cold outside and yet I stand there for a good many minutes watching the robins fight each other for the crab apples.

Maybe they're not fighting. Maybe jockeying for the plumpest one, showing off, playing with the energy accumulated during the summer months!

I go over to the bakery. For the smell of fresh croissants and the restocking of the bakery bin at the farmhouse. 

For the cinnamon roll that I have for breakfast. Hurry up, Ed! I'm hungry!

I know I need to plant bulbs, but I also need to make changes to next year's travel plans. Airfare sales allow me to cancel and rebook flights. And modify dates. It's all so complicated but Ed laughs at the very idea that this is a burden for me. You love messing with travel plans! -- he tells me. He is not incorrect.

I do put in some bulbs. Not many, but some. I'm still taking it easy with physical work. (How many times have I closed my movement rings since Covid rebound? Zero times. How quickly I've fallen!) And that's okay. In November, taking it easy is permissible. Indeed, it's required!

And then I pick up the kids. They had a good Halloween and I am glad. So much could have crumbled with bugs, viruses, delays -- all of it. October 31st is never a reliable date for anything! But this year, all grandkids had a grand time. And that's just so sweetly wonderful.

Toward evening: time to pick up the youngest guy -- always such a joyous moment for all three kids!

The day ends in the way it usually does for us, here at the farmhouse -- on the couch. No distancing necessary anymore (though honestly, the Covid remnants are still here to be a bother, but not a big bother!). Ed comments -- this house is so perfect for us. Yes it is. For the two of us, for visiting kids, for the cats that come and then run away the moment a child enters. For the warmth, the quiet, the place to feel happy and loved.