Fly By Night

November strides by without a glance, wrapped in grays and browns and leaving half her clothes behind as she passes. They cover the land and join the leaves, now dry and dull, that stir with each wave of wind returned. Sunshine is worth more these days. We rejoice when it spills through the windows and, like orphans, we follow it from room to room.








At times, November seems a too-long month of too-little light. Too-cold house and too much dark. It's not all bad, though. There are other too-muches pleasanter, like these:

Too much tea, too much coffee, and too much cocoa
Too many blankets and too many sweaters
Too much sitting and too much reading-of-books
Too much water in a too-hot shower
Too many rosy faces painted by a too-strong wind
Too many canning jars stuffed with too much food
Too many floors covered with too much stuff
Too many rooms bursting with too much energy

And more for giving thanks:

The surprise of waking to find myself spread with sunshine;
Early morning light that sets dim corners on fire;
Five girls who fashion these days;
Little kicks within that startle me out of monotony;
The hope of new life;
Date nights; going steady; having a Heart;
Seasonal incentive for doing dishes-- it thaws out the hands!
Seasonal incentive for mopping the floor- company for Thanksgiving!
Seasonal incentive for eating candy- sacrificing my health for the children's sake!
Wind blowing every which way;
Lonesome honks; a sky-high parade; fall's fare-thee-well;
Migrating birds overhead, hundreds that rise and fall as one, that ripple and swell like a large, black sheet hung in the sky;
Those same blackbirds clustered in noisy traveling bands in the trees next to the house;
Winter sunsets splashed about;
Bent and crooked fences in fields now abandoned;
The elegance of trees in their bones, lined against a swathe of sky;
Dark nights and strewn stars with no competition but the moon;
The beauty of bare things.

Most of all, I'm thankful for endless new beginnings. They bolster each night and gird each morning. I daily fall; I hourly flop; so, these beginnings, I can't do without.

And there you have it.
Today's ramble to chug this train out of the station.
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John needs his netbook (which hates me as bitterly as I hate it) for work, so I'm leaning on the internet whims of ye olde laptop, who connects one day out of five these days. Let's hope I finish posting snapshots before she finds out what I'm up to!
Here goes nothing...