#1…The sky is clear blue, the oak trees still glow in orange and the seaweed is a beautiful shade of deep yellow-green.  November is a glorious time to walk the beach and find shells and sea glass that get churned up from the weekly storms that seem to brew with more spectacular drama…and then all is calm and sparkling.

#2…We get to wear sweaters, boots and long scarfs that coordinate with our mittens.  Don’t you just love wearing a completely new wardrobe?  If you’ve got a memory as short as mine, it’s a surprise to see all the clothes I had completely forgotten about and can we talk comfort for a moment?  This is the time of year to snuggle into thick cotton shirts, mohair sweaters (from our goats of course :)) and heavy socks in hiking boots…heaven.

#3…It’s the season of hygge…(sounds like who-ga).  The Danish version of cocooning…snuggling in and practicing the art of slow living.  Another way of saying it is the absolute knowledge that you are absolutely where you should be, when you should be…doing what you should be.  It’s such a relief from feeling tugged in 50 directions when the days are long and warm.

#4…It’s totally OK to sleep 8 hours every night.  When it starts to get dark at 3:30 and the sun doesn’t come up again until 7, who’s to say it’s wrong to snuggle into a warm bed at 9PM?

#5…It’s time to dive into a new project without interruption.  For me it’s about spinning, knitting and weaving with friends in the studio.  For Steve it’s about playing more music and planning concert dates and trips for the coming months.

#6…It’s time to make soup…and desserts…and try new recipes.  By now our cold storage and refrigerator are overflowing with the late harvest and it’s a real responsibility to use up the baskets of green beans, carrots, beets, tomatoes and bell peppers before they become goat food.  I love to pick out a cookbook, blow off the dust that’s accumulated since last March and start sampling new recipes and re-discovering old favorites.  Last night was carrot pie from a Russian Vegetarian cookbook…how can a crust of butter, oat flour and sour cream be anything but exquisite when it’s filled with sweet and sour carrots and doused with chicken broth that has simmered all day long?  And the calories don’t count because we worked outside in the cold and deserve to be pampered.

#7…In November, nobody judges when you curl up in a chair with a stack of magazines, a cup of cocoa and totally ignore the telephones and notification dings for hours on end once the sun slips behind the trees at 3 in the afternoon…or spend hours on the computer playing with the photos that go into a blog post ;).

#8…There’s a not so subtle nudge to get outdoors and hike before the snow flies…and before the waistline thickens (see #6) while the sun is still shining (see #6 to understand the potential conflict).  The flock loves to walk on the beach nibbling seaweed so it seems that we do this every afternoon that the wind isn’t blowing us off our feet.

#9…I’ve start scrolling through podcasts while organizing the closets; I love ones that explore creativity, philosophy and humor.  I’m continually amazed at how much quality content is available for free on the internet with a little bit of digging.  Right now my favorite podcasts are the Creative Pep Talk, Fresh Air and The Daily and Philosophize This!

#10…It’s time to laugh and re-connect with friends & family…over coffee, over lunch, over drinks.  Our friends understand that our lives are devoted to the responsibilities surrounding Campground and the Makers Guild from April until October…you might say that we binge on our friends the same way we binge on Netflix…and November is the month it all begins…more photos to follow…it seems I haven’t collected any good pictures of friends lately…huh.

There’s still two weeks left to enjoy, may we all make the most of it!

Astrig