Feeling Novembrish

November has traditionally not been my favorite month, but this year it's been so mild and sunny, it's really starting to endear itself to me.

We've been busy doing all those Novembery kind of things one does:

Saying adios to Halloween (that would be our compost bin; and those wreaths? Ghosts of Christmas past...we like to hang onto our holiday memories):

Raking leaves. Even though we live right in the woods, we don't get a lot of leaves on our "lawn." The only tree we have in the lawn is an oak, which hangs onto its leaves until the end of the season. It's grown quite a bit since M was small and I remember raking a tiny pile of leaves about 2 ft. by 3 ft. and maybe six inches deep, and he tried to jump in it and bury himself in the leaves. It was really quite pathetic (I never did get the leaves loaded into the wheelbarrow and moved to the compost bin, so I'm sure they'll have redistributed themselves around the yard by the time I get home Sunday). I remember raking the leaves of the elderly couple who lived next door to us when I was a kid (my parents would send us over, but Mrs. Lambert usually rewarded us with a dollar or a candy cane--from last Christmas). Our neighbors have tractor-pulled leaf vacuum, so my kids won't ever have this experience (I'm sure they're relieved since the neighbors have about 30 acres).

I've been making more Mama Bags for gift-giving:

Which is one reason why I have stacks and stacks of "to-be-read" that I can't seem to get to:

Maybe I should put a freeze on my Interlibrary Loans for the months of November and December:

Trying to figure out ways to use winter produce. We're down to apples and cranberries for fresh fruits (I do buy bananas in the winter, and the occasional pomegranate and of course citrus later on, but generally try to stay as local as reasonable). I made a single head of cabbage into: four cole slaws (two with mayo; two with balsamic vinaigrette); braised cabbage; Russian cabbage soup. With leftovers of everything.

I added this little Indian doll, which I have from my own childhood, to our nature table--probably not the right kind of Indian for Thanksgiving (looks kind of Plains to me...and also came from Hallmark, so probably not terribly authentic no matter what), but I don't have much in the way of Thanksgiving decorations.

Our Christmas cactus is blooming ahead of schedule. Its blooms aren't exactly autumnal, but it's pretty and this year I actually thought to bring it into the house instead of leaving it out in the sunroom where we wouldn't notice it as much. The tablecloth is one of two autumney cloths I bought at TJ Maxx last month for super cheap.

Best of all, I'm getting away for the weekend for what has become an annual late-fall trek to Western Mass to visit dear friends. And I'm feeling immense gratitude that my husband is not a deer hunter so that I don't spend my Saturdays in November as a hunting widow. Thanks C!