Sweet November

I am ready for cold weather and find myself welcoming mid-November with a big hug.  Albeit, a gentle hug as I "did something" to pull a back muscle last night (working carefully today to baby said muscle but so far... so good).  It's something I've lived with since a childhood fall and a good reminder to be thankful most days for the absence of pain... sometimes it is what we do not have to deal with that we can praise God for.  :)

Somehow the outside cold and fog and overall gloom make for a perfect day to read more of Gene Stratton-Porter.  As I read through Girl of the Limberlost, I wondered why it has taken me so long to read it.  I suppose it has a lot to do with reading fiction being something I have done more of in recent years.

I tended to nonfiction books even as a homeschool mom, my fiction reading was mostly lighter literature like Jan Karon and Miss Read and James Harriot and cozy mysteries such as Laura Childs' Tea Room mysteries.  All books easy to pick up while waiting for the homeschooler at the library or fencing or taking an Algebra class at the community college.  There is probably a correlation between finishing the "hands on" homeschooling years (beginning of high school) and the reading of longer and deeper books.

Mid-November is a quiet time in our home when most lawn and garden work is behind us but we're not quite into Holiday mode.  Especially this year as Christopher will not be home for Thanksgiving, making it the first time we will not be having a family meal here or traveling to a grandparent's home.  We're not quite sure what we will be doing, yet.

Christmas has been quite different for many, many years now.  Long gone are the days of Christmas crafts, decorating cookies, shopping for "just the right" gift, and many of the fun traditions we held tight when there were young children in our everyday life and there was more income.  Instead we developed other traditions and quieter holidays... different but one can still be thankful.  :)

I'll ponder holidays more later but now I must light a couple of candles (for it is dark, even for mid-day) and curl up with Limberlost for awhile, perhaps perusing a few beautiful cookbooks and thinking through what I want to read next.  I'm fairly certain a re-visit to Mitford is in order as I read through a few of my favorite Mitford novels and end with Shepherd's Abiding as Christmas draws closer.

Dinner tonight is easy, just popping a chicken in the oven along with potatoes and carrots to roast along side.  Tomorrow we will revisit the bird in the form of chicken noodle soup... comfort food on chilly days when one once again loves their flannel housecoat and flannel sheets and over sized sweaters and and there is a throw folded at the end of the sofa.

I am very thankful for a day when I can stay still, for books to read, for food in the frig planned for dinner, and most of all... the opportunity to chat all about it to blog friends.

Especially when Miss Victoria is sound asleep under the rocking chair, dreaming of the birds and squirrels on the other side of the window.  :)

Picture: Cookbook and apples; allposters.com