Sharon's blog: 1-1-11

It's November.

When I was little I could hardly wait for November to get here. The mountains would be all ready to be cloaked in winter snows, clothes became warmer and heavier, hickory smoke was in the air, molasses was curing, soap was being stacked like white bricks on brown paper and it was almost time for gingerbread and jam cakes. It was also my birthday month and coming on the early edge of Thanksgiving, my birthday was the beginning of the holiday season.

My heart started tingling on the first day of November every single year, and I don't think it stopped tingling till after Valentine's Day when I started looking for early spring blooms, which always brought on a different kind of tingle, the kind that happened whenever I was on a plant journey up the mountain with Aunt Bett.

It still happens.

It's a gorgeous day, nearing 70 degrees. My clothes aren't yet heavier or warmer. I can't smell hickory smoke and my soap is in the wrapper it came in; it isn't stacked like white bricks and it isn't wrapped in brown.  And my neighbor's knockout roses are still blooming.

But I went outside early this morning, still dressed in my long gown with ruffles on the bottom. Here I sit now with wet ruffles dangling around my ankles, but oh boy, I couldn't wait to get the photos on my screen.

It isn't the same as in the mountains. It isn't the same as it was 60 years ago. It's warmer and the trees are barely turning. I still have flowers blooming.  But the tingles of my heart tell me it's November.

Strawflowers that came all the way from LarryR's garden in Iowa are happy in November and so is Sophie's Rose, who might just continue to bloom when the snow falls. She usually does.

So here it is, a morning of dew dampened ruffles around my ankles, November 1, 2011, and my heart is still tingling. There is nobody else in my house except my cats, and here they sit looking at me, waiting to see whatever it is that makes me smile on a November morning.

Maybe those of us who love nature and living don't have to look very far to find things to be excited about. We just open our eyes and our hearts and there it is right in front of us.

Happy November!

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