First off, don’t tempt fate! Remember that flower bed nicely covered with snow that allowed me to cross “cleanup” off my to do list? Well, lucky for us, the weather warmed bringing the dead stuff back into view and, once again, cleanup is on my “To Do List.” However, I will wait for the promised warmer temperatures mid-week to tackle it. Besides, I have a bag of allium bulbs that need to be planted in the bed before we head out. The farmer across the road harvested his corn, the remnants of which swirl across our yards accumulating in gardens/flower beds which provides nice mulch. Everyone’s boat docks and lifts have made it into their yards where they will grace folks with skeletal snow structures in the months ahead. Yard furniture has made its way into the garage and Halloween has come and gone with little fanfare this year.
Here in the upper Midwest, I think November is the month we finally “come to terms” with the fact that winter is staring us in the face. A few gale force winds combined with icy rain leave little doubt. Our gas fireplace isn’t working so my normal fall “cozy up” routine has been compromised. I suppose the guy will finally get it working right before we leave for the winter. I do have some nice chai tea that adds to both my morning and evening warm up rituals. Even though new prime time TV shows have been pushed out it’s nice that the new season of Hallmark Christmas movies has started.
For us, this is the time to clean out the freezer which, this year, is an especially daunting task after friends brought us an entire cooler full of various processed game. Paul prepared pheasant in a wine based cream sauce that was delicious. I was proud of pulling 7 separate items out and combining at least three of them together into a soup. Seems we have an extra-large supply of frozen greens this year that we will continue using in soup/stews/omelets/etc. through the winter months.
People keep bringing us squash so every week we are baking squash; some we eat and the rest is going into the freezer; I know, that’s moving in the wrong direction if we want to clean it out. Paul has finally acquiesced and purchased a good cooler so we can transport some of our favorite freezer items to Flagstaff for the winter. The other day, I swapped out pumpkin for squash in a quick bread recipe which was delicious. I pulled out all my frozen overripe bananas and made a big batch of banana bread, most of which I gave away. Upon request, I also pulled out a container of rhubarb and made some jam for my mom, which, by the way, took us over the 200 mark for canned goods. We boxed it all up this week with much of it coming to Arizona with us for friends and family.
As I gaze across the lake at the brown/grey leafless trees, I see an eagle fly by; they seem to be particularly active in the fall. I haven’t seen the geese congregating and honking the last several days so maybe they have taken off for warmer climes. I am hoping for a few more snow storms before we leave but I can wait for those that will inevitably come to Flagstaff next month. In closing, November seems like a fine month for reflection and contemplation of the year ending and although 2020 has been extremely challenging for most of us it has also brought some unexpected blessings including: more family/home time, greater online connections with distant family/friends and time away from our usual hustle and bustle. As we have refilled these wells, I think we have all gained a greater appreciation of the importance of taking care of ourselves and each other which will serve us well as we move toward the holidays and into 2021.