November Chill

 As November comes to a close, I find it's also time for autumn to come to a close. The trees are bare now, with leaves skittering across the roads. And today, there are even a few snow flakes in the air. I'm having a hard time finding pretty spots to show off here. But early in the month, I did enjoy the end of the fall colors at my favorite parks. Plus we went to Florida to see my parents, and of course I found beauty there. 

Blacklick Woods and Chestnut Ridge are my favorite nature spots during the months when summer turns into fall. My last visit to them on November 7 was my final view of autumn here in Ohio. I'm always a little sad when my favorite season is over. When autumn comes to an end, it means that the next time I'll catch interesting nature photos will be the first snow. But when will that be? Our winters have gotten milder here, like they have in so many areas. We don't get much snow, and when we do, it doesn't last long. I suppose that's why I go running outside whenever snow does arrive. In the meantime, here's what I saw at fall's finale. 

I have two sets of parents living in Florida, so we visit fairly often. In Sarasota, we see coastal views and eat seafood. 

In central Florida, we see orange groves, marshes, and rolling hills. They each have their own beauty. 

With Thanksgiving behind us, it's time to get serious about my Christmas preparations. It's time to remove all the pumpkins outside, and buy holiday greenery to take their place. Inside, it's time to remove all the fall decorations, and break out my Christmas goodies. I do have some of my gifts already purchased, but I'll need to finish that chore. I will send out a few Christmas cards, and bake some cookies. I used to bake mountains of cookies when the kids were small, when we had various places to share them. Now I just make a few favorites for my immediate family. I also need to plan holiday meals for visiting family, but we decided to go casual this year and have a taco bar. Can't wait! Here's a little sneak preview of my decorations. 

Here at the end of the month, I tried to find any possible flowers outside, and didn't find much. It must have been quite cold while we were in Florida, as even my roses are gone, and they usually last past a few frosts. I did plant about half of my tulip bulbs before the weather got extra cold. I'll have to find a window of warmth to complete that task. We did clean out the veggie garden earlier in the month, and harvested these carrots and watermelon radishes. 

I'll leave you as usual with a sunrise and two sunsets. Not sure how much else there will be to see during the quieter months, but I do appreciate you stopping by regardless. See you again next month when I'll have holiday decorations to display, and maybe some snow. 

November Gratitude

 Are you finding gratitude hard to come by these days? Well, you are certainly not alone. The world has been troubling for some time now, and the news is often distressing. Still, I'm finding it best not to spend too much time wallowing in anxiety about everything. It's not that I'm trying to be Suzy Sunshine while real problems exist in the world. But it's important to have distraction so we don't go sinking too far down into the mire. Here in the US, we celebrate Thanksgiving in November, and many of us spent this normally family oriented holiday at home in our own household bubble. Again, it may have been hard to find gratitude when you're used to being surrounded by loved ones. 

As for myself, I am grateful for many things, despite being separated from family and friends. I have my husband here working from home, and a warm and cozy home it is. We are healthy and strong, with many ways to keep ourselves occupied here in the nest. Of course I'm grateful for the garden, which keeps me busy, entertained, and emotionally supported throughout the year. 

November was fairly pleasant early on, and many of my favorites were still blooming for me. At this point in the garden year, the chores consist of putting the garden to bed for the winter. Faded flowers are removed, the decorative touches are put away for the winter, and bulbs are planted. Luckily the weather cooperated while I finished up. 

There were even some fall colors to enjoy at the start of the month. I made a few last visits to my favorite parks, just to see what sights were still available. 

Of course here we are at month's end, and the weather has turned more wintery. It's snowing today, and I'm thoroughly enjoying the big fat flakes coming down. I hope it sticks! We've had some pretty cold nights, and only a few bedraggled roses and snapdragons remain in bloom. I've discarded all the pumpkins, and soon I'll decorate with Christmas greens, which will remain in place until March. 

Below you see what I call frost bouquets. Whenever a big freeze threatens, I gather what ever flowers still remain, just in case they get nipped. Sometimes the frost misses the last blooms after all, but it's still nice to have bouquets indoors. And that big ole praying mantis showed up while I was making Thanksgiving dinner. I have no idea where he suddenly appeared from, and what he could find to eat at that point. He stayed for a few days, now nowhere to be seen. The single roses seen are the die hards, bedraggled, but still trying to be pretty. 

It's harder to keep a garden blog interesting in the winter, but I'll do my best. We've been in hunker down mode throughout most of the pandemic, so winter won't be much different, although there won't be any garden to distract us. Winter gardening mostly consists of planning for next year. I'll draw a few pictures of how I want things to look, make a list of purchases, and plan out my color schemes and seed purchases. And I'll work on my gratitude. This is the second year running where I write down my daily gratitude at day's end. It helps. Sometimes the gratitude is simply a cozy bowl of soup, and sometimes it's more extensive. But even in these troubling times, there's always something to be thankful for. By the way, the colorful pot you see below has been a delight all through the cold weather. I did protect it overnight a few times, and finally brought it inside to spend the winter. Hopefully it will keep me smiling throughout the long, cold winter so it can return to the outdoors next year. And please let us all hope that we find it a whole lot easier to find gratitude next year!