The Height Of November and Giving Thanks
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A chill wind blows the yellowing leaves off the trees. They drift down to the ground like giant snowflakes. The air is pregnant with the feel of the coming holidays. Fall has truly come with the sudden drop in temperatures, a full 20 degrees cooler than a week ago. This is the real Fall, no mealy-mouthed disguised Fall, but a Fall that will guide us into winter appropriately. November appears as a mirror image of March. November is the vibrant color of decay while March is the decaying color of about-to-burst-forth Spring.
The birds are at the bird feeder all the time now. They are not stopped by our presence when we come to fill the feeder or blow leaves under it. Nothing stops them. They swoop around the feeder and the surrounding trees like Kamikaze pilots, darting here and there recklessly. The squirrels are in a frenzy as well, stock piling and burying acorns and walnuts which they will retrieve without fail in a month or so in a snow-covered land.
The trees are most beautiful for me at this time of year, when many of them are bare and a scattering of leaves remain on dark brown branches. The leaves that remain on the trees blow on the limbs with dainty grace in their precarious positions. Yet these are the survivors. The other leaves have fallen and gone the way all living things eventually go. Most trees have lost all their leaves and they stand in stark contrast against the blue sky, the stormy sky, even the night sky. They are perhaps most beautiful at night, like arms reaching up to the darkness trying to grab at the stars twinkling between the branches. Moonlight dances on their limbs.
November is the last glimmer of color and in some places the color seems to be predominantly yellow. A carpet of yellow lines the woods now. And now one can see inside the woods, so dark and impenetrable in summer. Some forests have carpets of oak leaves– dark brown tan in color. Or there are forest paths with variegated colors– vibrant crimsons against yellows and faded greens and tawny tans. The unmown lawns are now taken over by the spiders and, at moments, one can see a world of webs covering fields that only appear in a certain slant of sunlight. It is the silent take over of the spiders before the snows come.
The yellow, the brown, the crimson leaves are complemented by the ubiquitous yellow, brown and crimson mums that appear on the roadside near mail boxes, on porches or along driveways. These tough little flowers withstand frosty chills and stand tall throughout most of November. Hearty souls and so giving in their colorful, velvety splendor.
The Halloween pumpkins begin to sag a bit or shine with wetness as if encased in glass. They will soon be tossed, pine combs and wreathes and fir swags will take their places, and the season of lights will begin. Like a child I am filled with anticipation of what is to come although all the spiritual guides teach us to live in the moment. I try to live in the moment all Autumn for as a season it seems the fastest to come and go. I try to hold each moment in my hands as a treasure but they all sift through my fingers like grains of sand. Then Christmas comes and fades in a flash and we are into the Nor’Easter blizzards of January. Another year is gone. The years do go faster as you grow older. Every one has their favorite theory why this is so. I think it is “to-do” lists. They rob us of time as we run around like Kamikaze birds or frenzied squirrels to check things off. And our reliance on calendars. We turn to mark things in our appointment books months ahead of time effortlessly flipping through the seasons with a flick of the wrist. It is no wonder time flies. We are in August and planning Christmas. I am fighting this in November with half the Fall gone: “Stop! Stop!” I try in vain to wish time would stand still so we could be in forever Thanksgiving/Christmas. But, being human, we would soon tire of that. It is good we are defenseless against time.
We go about living our lives, trying against our natures to treasure the good moments. Now in November, at Thanksgiving, it is our time to say thank you. Inspired by the Native Americans let us thank the earth. Let us say thank you to the trees for their constantly changing beauty, to the stars for their piercing presence in the night sky, to the leaves for their inspiring colors, to the sun for its life-giving power, to the Spring for its awakening hope, to the Summer for its warm, thriving growth, to the Fall for its bounty, to the Winter for a time of renewal, to the snow flakes for their hushed, white silence that transforms our world, to the animals for their pure souls, to our families and friends for their love, and, lastly but mostly, to the Higher Power of our belief.
Happy Thanksgiving and may you each be blessed with the all embracing, pervasive Love in nature.
MOONSIDE 
🧡🍂❤️🍁💚🍃
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November 23, 2023 at 1:30 AM
🙏🏽🤩🍁🍃❣️
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November 25, 2023 at 6:56 PM
“We go about living our lives, trying against our natures to treasure the good moments.” You hit the nail on the head. Lovely post. Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!
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November 23, 2023 at 7:25 AM
Thank you so much, Brian!! Happy you liked it. A wonderful Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones!!😍🙏🍁🍃🍂🪶
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November 23, 2023 at 8:50 AM
Same to you!!!😎😎😎🍁😎🍁
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November 23, 2023 at 8:54 AM
Ellen, you arrange words in prose in a way that reads like poetry. What a delightful post – thank you, and Happy Thanksgiving! 😊🌻🦃
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November 23, 2023 at 9:09 AM
Thank you so much and thank you for all your posts that brighten my days all the time! 🤩👍🙏🏽
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November 23, 2023 at 10:45 AM
Happy Thanksgiving, Ellen!
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November 23, 2023 at 10:57 AM
Happy Thanksgiving, Cheyenne, and good luck with your upcoming show and the hoopla attached to that! 👍🍁🍃💥
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November 23, 2023 at 2:40 PM
i love the photo that illustrates this post. well illustrated, & well said🙏🏼thanks for touching my day with good vibes🌺🌈🌹🥰
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November 23, 2023 at 11:21 AM
Thank you so much! Glad you liked the photo and got good vibes. Vibes of Lord Shiva come through you. 🍁🍃💥🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
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November 23, 2023 at 2:37 PM
thanks! i’m glad to know that you experience Lord Shiva’s vibes through me.🙏🏼🔱🙏🏼❤️
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November 23, 2023 at 2:43 PM
🙏🙏🙏
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November 23, 2023 at 4:48 PM
Wonderfully written! I especially like your description of the bare, beautiful trees at this time of year. I will take a look at their branches tonight.
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November 23, 2023 at 12:51 PM
Thank you so much, Julie!!! Happy Thanksgiving! Oh, yes, take a look for me, too, I can’t see the effect with the street lights of New York City but I can see in my mind’s eye the black branches against the dark sky with starlight. Sending love to the stars…✨🙏😊
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November 23, 2023 at 5:06 PM
Happy Thanksgiving Ellen. The silver maples in the yard send you love. Thanks for drawing my eyes to them. 🤩
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November 24, 2023 at 11:28 AM
Oh, thank you so much, both for the love from the silver maples and for the beautiful thing you said about drawing your eyes to them. Really, really means a lot to me. 🙏🏽👍🤩❤️
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November 24, 2023 at 11:37 AM
I’m so glad! ❤️❤️🍁🍁
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November 24, 2023 at 11:41 AM
Your words are poetic, El. I really appreciate the picture of how the to-do lists cause time to pass so quickly because our focus is always on what hasn’t been done rather than what we have at the moment. We really don’t know how to treasure our moments. Thankfulness is a journey we all need to focus on. Thanks for the beautiful words, El.
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November 23, 2023 at 2:03 PM
Thank you so much, Dayle. I have been trying to write a comment on your piece today. Will put it here because on your site I can’t seem to get it to send the comment. You’re absolutely right. “We really don’t know how to treasure our moments.” So here is the comment on your piece:
Happy Thanksgiving, Dayle and family!! Yes, the “please” prayers come more readily than the “Thank you” and it should be completely the other way around. Thanks for reminding us of that in your excellent piece!
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November 23, 2023 at 5:02 PM
Beautiful. Happy Thanksgiving! ˚ʚ♡🥧🍁🍂☕️🦃♡ɞ˚
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November 23, 2023 at 5:14 PM
Thanks so much, Cindy!! Happy Thanksgiving! ✨🍃🍂🪶🍁🙏
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November 23, 2023 at 5:26 PM
Happy Thanksgiving!
Gratitude is a wonderful feeling. It’s one of the first things you learn as an adult. When you begin to understand this, your life changes for the better. We will be grateful for everything.
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November 26, 2023 at 4:02 PM
So true, dear Ubit!
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November 27, 2023 at 9:19 AM
🥹🥹🥹
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November 27, 2023 at 10:23 AM
Very nice article 💅
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December 10, 2023 at 10:22 AM
Thank you very much, Birendra!! Glad we are following each other. 🙏🏽🙏🏽
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December 10, 2023 at 10:37 AM