NOVEMBER - "In my mind's eye I clearly see the farmhouse and the trees..."

 THE FARMHOUSE

In my mind's eye I clearly see

The farmhouse and the trees

That shaded it in summer months,

Then sprinkled it with leaves

During the splendid autumn days

When all the world was fair

To a boy who did not know then

That all his world was there.

Robert Brown

 

Frosty fungi

Today we have used the opportunity, while the day stayed fine, to do some tidying up in the garden. Ginny, Judith and Clemency were neatening the entrance by cutting back the willows which edge the drive on one side. They will grow back stronger - and very quickly. They cut them down soon after we moved in and Ginny kept the wands for crafting but this time someone is collecting them for making wreaths. 

Before and after (willows)

I'm so used to willows. When we lived in Orkney there were few trees of any kind. There are more now. People have planted them in the last thirty or so years but you still couldn't say there are many trees. However, the Isle of Axholme, where I grew up, had lots of willows. The Isle isn't known for its trees either but there are hazel, ash, alder and willow where their tree-ancestors have flourished for centuries. My own memories include Carrside, Epworth where we played as young children and Belshaw, Belton which was an area of importance long ago when the Islonians were unhappy with Dutch engineers draining their marshes and depriving them of their food source - fish and waterfowl. I spent many happy hours there - looking for pussy willow in late winter, flowering gorse in springtime, brambles in summer and just taking in the silent beauty of wintertime. My granny took me as a child and then I took myself as a teenager - by then I was living just a stone's throw away - and later, with my husband, we took our own children - sometimes picnicking with friends there. The trees were mostly scrubby ones but they provided some shade and lots of fun for kids.

November sunrise

While Ginny, Judith and Clemency were busy with cutting back the willows, I cleared so many leaves from the cottage garden. They have been a bit of a hazard to be honest but, until today, we haven't had the chance to clear them - well they have been cleared a couple of times since Storm Floris in August but they just came back again!

I cleaned the bird baths too. I'm ashamed to say that I don't do that nearly often enough.

The second load of stones for the back driveway - and the paths in the kitchen garden - arrived on 1st November and Ginny, Judith and Clemency have been spreading them ever since. All three have jobs and also run Crowvus, our small publishing company, so their spare time is limited. The shorter daylight hours and the poor November weather have both held them back a bit too. 

The cows didn't go inside until the weekend of 15th/16th. It was lovely having them out for a little longer this year and they seemed happy about the situation too. 

That weekend, Clemency and Judith saw a woodcock very close to the house. In the past it has been the herald of poor weather and, sure enough, we had our first snow - very little and not settling for long - on Wednesday, 19th November. It felt bitterly cold all that week. By the end of the week, our son had sent snowy photos from his home in France. He lives in a valley, surrounded by mountains, and their first snow of the season transformed the village into a Christmas card. 

Holly with webs

Although we had very little snow here, the cold weather encouraged the mice and Keith took away two in humane traps to deposit them over the river. I really thought that, after Judith had bunged up three holes in the pantry, we would manage to keep them out so I was a bit disappointed. They really are sweet and, since I am up at 5:30 most mornings, I get to share my quiet time with them before it is light enough to release them. This being said, I'd rather they didn't come indoors!!!

Wintry garden

On the eleventh of November I bought three hyacinth bulbs from our nearest supermarket. I bought a blue one, a white one and a pink one. I felt as if I was cheating as they came in hyacinth jars with little cardboard hats to make for them. All I had to do was to add water. Now I keep peeping to see if they are ready to be brought out into the light. I'm a bit like Teddy in the Andy Pandy story where Andy Pandy and Teddy sow acorns to grow oak trees. Teddy is too impatient and digs them up to see how they are getting on!

My mind is wandering a little now - back to the time when I was at Epworth County Primary School and Mr. Percy Lindley, who was by that time in a wheelchair and lived in an red brick bungalow next to the school annexe, gave acorns, from his oak tree, to my school friends and me - telling us to plant them and watch them grow. I planted mine in our garden at Studcross Cottage but, soon afterwards, we moved from there to Aston House, 92, High Street, Epworth and soon discovered that Percy Lindley had once lived there himself. But I don't know if his acorn grew or not!

A lot of overnight rain on 11th/12th November meant that the river was very full but the overnight temperature was a respectable eight degrees. Judith took some lovely river pictures. The river is a major player in our little ecosystem, supporting insects, crustaceans, mammals, fish and birds. One of the regulars at present - and they do change all through the year - is the heron. Herons seem to like the full river and don't fly very high or very far when they see us coming. This week I noticed shoots coming through by the river - next year's iris perhaps?

Forss Water/River Forss

The crows and jackdaws have matched the geese with their flocking this month. Sometimes a few gulls from the coast will join them. It can be a bit intimidating when they circle overhead and don't seem to have found what they are looking for!  A single crow occasionally sits in one of our tall sitkas and watches us - rather like Old Brown in the Beatrix Potter stories. We don't have any red squirrels here so all I can suggest is that our resident crow is keeping his beady eye on Orlando and Jess - until Nutkin turns up! In the early hours of this morning I heard a solitary crow call outside. I mentioned it to Judith this morning and she said that she and her sisters had all heard it late at night on other occasions. It's something I haven't come across before - I just expected most birds to be asleep in their roosts at one in the morning!

November's full moon was on the fifth of the month - Bonfire Night. We had our bonfire celebration on the following Saturday this year. Ginny, Judith and Clemency made a great bonfire. The sparks were wonderful and I could see lines of orange writhing up from the fire. They were quite beautiful and magical. One very special moment was when a young owl did a lap of honour and squawked a goodnight message at us. Time for our beds apparently!!

The full moon was a supermoon and, in November, it is called the Beaver Moon or the Frost Moon. I think frost is self explanatory but the beaver label may be attributed to native Americans who would prepare their traps at this time of year. It may also refer to the beavers building their lodges ahead of the winter months. 

As we hunker down for winter, not exactly hibernating but definitely spending more hours indoors, there is time to reflect a little more on the year that is creeping to a close. When we venture outside it's the time of year when we notice shoots in the otherwise sleeping garden. Yesterday Judith and I noticed daffodils poking through the soil under the spirea hedge. My heart was instantly uplifted. I considered the gloomy prognosis for our uncertain world and, at that very moment, the gloom lifted and all our futures were contained within those fleshy pale green shoots. That's how it's always been - it's just that sometimes the ugliness of people's lust for power and wealth can obscure the beauty of hope. Today is Advent Sunday - the first Sunday in the Christian observance of the time for reflection that comes before Christmas. I'm hoping for a better world - a fairer world for everyone - and, until that happens, I'm looking at the beautiful world around me. And I'm looking forward to Christmas!!

Orlando seems pretty sure we have bears in the little wood!!! Turns out it was a pheasant . . . .or two

 

WEATHER OUTLOOK

Beyond the winter-darkened copse,

Etched razor-sharp upon the skyline,

A sea of red and gold,

Dusking to pearly grey.

Smoke from cottage chimneys

Bends to the east.

Seven days of bitter frost.

There should be snow by morning.

R.R.Zanber