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Tuesday 20 November 2012

November

November is a between seasons month when it isn't really autumn nor yet quite winter and I love the variety of weather we experience during this month.  Here is a photo taken last week when we had a blue skies and sunshine day.

 Today I was to have met with a friend for a walk along the beach at Weymouth or somewhere and a pub lunch to follow but she had a cold and we have postponed that outing to another day.  In spite of the wet and windy weather we have here today I decided a walk would do me good anyway and arranged to meet another friend in town for a coffee and some French conversation instead.  I donned my boots and waterproofs and set off along the usual route.

 I thought how lovely it was watching the patterns made by the raindrops on the surface of the lake and listening to the pattering of the rain on my umbrella.

 I was the only fool out walking this morning and even the ducks had disappeared somewhere but I enjoyed my walk safe in the knowledge that a cup of tea or coffee and some shared time with a friend awaited me and that once home again I would be able to shed my wet things and be warm and dry again soon.

 I thought this photo taken recently summed up November weather- mainly dull and monochrome yet with the occasional bright spell.  I didn't place the coloured leaf it was like that all on its own!  I would hate to live in a climate where every day was warm and bright any more than in one where it was always grey and wet - I need the variety and the surprise of waking to find a lovely bright morning after days of dismal weather.  I enjoy walking in any weather except perhaps when it is really windy and there is much of beauty to discover at any time of year.  Time spent walking is thinking time and time to be on my own which is as necessary to me as breathing and I don't much mind what the weather is like as long as I don't have to stay cold and wet - it might be different if I was not able to get warm and dry after my walk.

The sun is low in the sky at this time of year and we need to make the most of it whilst it is there - a walk needs to be taken in the morning as after lunch it is getting a little late unless it is a short walk as darkness falls soon after 4.00pm now.  But there is something special about the early darkness when we are able to shut out the world by pulling the curtains and to snuggle down for the evening indoors.  I think that living in the modern world we are in danger of losing touch with the seasons - now that I no longer go to work all day every day I am free to notice the sunsets and the darkness falling, the differences in the trees and plants and the weather too and for that I am grateful as it feels like a link with my ancestral past in some way.  In November I no longer want to feel the grass beneath my bare feet or to sit in the sunshine with my book or to be doing something all day long but to light a fire and dim the lights - candles are good here - and go to bed early.  After all in evolutionary terms it isn't so very long ago that we would have had to slow down in the winter months as without electricity and 24/24 access to all things via the internet and telephone, without the wheel for our transport and so on we'd have to walk more but maybe to do less in the winter months.  So let's hear it for November and the coming winter even though I know I will be one of the first to suffer from the lack of light when my "grey blanket" falls in January!!

Thank you to all those who have left comments on my recent posts especially the advice on knitting my shawlette including some patterns.  I have almost finished it and may well make another using up some of my stash.

21 comments:

  1. Wonderful post
    I love the November colors you capture in the first photo, the grey, golds, greens and darks of the tree bark.

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  2. A lovely post Jane. You are a like-minded soul! I really need to get out and about more so now that I have been recently diagnosed with a lack of vitimin D, the sunshine vitamin!!! x

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  3. Lovely you can find some joy in November, I'm afraid it's a month I really don't like but you talk about the 'grey blanket' in January and strangely I like January, I love the new start!! We're all different, thank goodness. :)
    Love your leaf photo. :)
    Vivienne x

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  4. We lived on the equator for many years and one of the things I missed most was the change of seasons. To wake up day after day knowing that the weather would be the same was, in a small way, stultifying. I remember longing for rain on Christmas day, even though it would be warm rain, just to have something different.

    When November comes, I hunker indoors, and have to force myself out for walks unless the sun makes a rare appearance. Good for you for braving wet and dreary to get out.

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  5. Another thought provoking post Jane, you always seems to be able to put your finger on the moment. You have taken another lovely set of photographs to show the diversity of November - the last of the trees hanging on to their leaves, meanwhile others have been long bare. Well done for getting out in the wind and rain.

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  6. great photos, I love the leafy one in particular.

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  7. Jane, despite the weather, it looks like you had a really lovely walk and I love the stunning photographs of along the way. Reminds me that I really should make more effort to go out walking, if only I had somewhere as nice to walk without having to hop in the car first!

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  8. I do love this time of year - one moment it's bright and the next well.....it's not, but always with a lovely earthy smell.

    Nina x

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  9. You are so right about the importance of distinct seasons to one's well being, although I suppose we'd get used different weather patterns if we had to. And I agree, November is very much a stuck in between month, officially autumn but often feeling like winter. I think of it as the wood smoke month because would never light a fire before November. October on the other had was the bonfire month (Bonfire night excepted of course) with garden fires aplenty.

    Lovely post Jane :)

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  10. Sorry, that should say my parents would never light a fire etc. ... I really must learn to read my comments before I publish them!

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  11. It is the changing of seasons that makes our year so interesting, the differing colours, flowers, birds etc. I wouldn't want to live in perpetual Summer!

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  12. Living in a sub tropical climate, we still have seasons but not as delineated as yours. It's surprising how quickly you want rainy days to be over when most of the days are sunny. Usually rainy days here mean too much rain so we don't often wish for rainy days.
    Love your photos, especially the one of the autumn leaf.

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  13. Good for you, Jane, seeing the positive in NOvember! Not my favourite month I must confess,I prefer January as by then we are closer to spring! Having said that, we spent 2 years in Malta when my husband was in the Navy, and we eventually realised we did indeed miss the seasonal changes in the weather. Too much sunshine! Hah! Did I really say that!

    Lovely pictures, and I hope your 'coffee and French conversation' was all you'd hoped it would be. (I'd love to have seen the faces on your fellow cafe-goers!)Lx

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  14. A lovely post, Jane. I too love the different days we have in November, even the rainy ones. Like you I'm happy to walk in most weather except when it's very windy.
    I have always loved the changing seasons since my childhood days, and enjoy them more each passing year :)
    Have a happy November week.
    Helen x

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  15. I love the fact that you enjoy your rainy walks. Hope you didn't get as much as we did overnight! I am finding myself going to bed earlier now that the clocks have changed.

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  16. Beautiful post and I love the photo of the coloured leaf against the dead dry ones. I totally agree with you about enjoying all the seasons - I too wouldn't be happy in a constantly hot/cold climate. The changing of the seasons gives a sense of excitement, change and times to be looked forward to.

    x

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  17. I've been out today as well Jane and it is not a fit day out for man nor beast over here! It is raining and blowing a gale. Lots of trees down so detours on my outward and homeward journey and now the road resembles a river. I am glad to be inside in the warm but need the lights on because it is so dark and it's only 1.30pm.Like you, I love November too but it's having an off day today!

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  18. I like this weather very much, and have always thought that I'd love living in the UK in autumn.

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  19. I enjoyed your post walking in the rain - I am quite enjoying November this year as we have had some lovely cold but sunny weekends away. I always like to draw the curtains early then snuggle up by the fire, browse through my stack of Christmas magazines for ideas and make my plans and lists. I think without electricity we would all be in bed come 4 o'clock which some days might not be a bad idea for those of us who tend to be a little sleep deprived!

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  20. I agree on that "losing touch with the seasons". I don't want to do that! Working in a leisurely bike ride now and then helps to keep me connected to nature. Lovely photos, Jane!

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  21. Very brave, I am not making much effort to walk in the awful rain we have been having. More a matter of nipping out between the showers.

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