Every year, I have an underlying worry that fall is going to go too fast. There’s going to be one huge rainstorm that just takes all the leaves off the trees before foliage has peaked, and we’ll end up entering stick season too soon. I make a point of getting out and enjoying the season up close. I do as much walking as I can, take foliage drives, go to harvest festivals, buy pumpkins, and eat fresh corn on the cob until the markets run out. Now that we’re into November, and only the last, brown leaves are holding onto the branches, I can reflect that yes, I have truly been enjoying fall this year, and I’m feeling ready (ready enough anyway) for winter.
The gray of November
November is an odd month for me, has been for a very long time. When I think of November, what comes to mind first, is gray. Just that, gray, grayness. It’s a color, it’s a feeling. I’ve talked about it so many times before, so I’ll just briefly say, I know why November is gray for me before it’s anything else. My mother died in the middle of the month. And as is the case for so many going through loss, the world lost its color. November was also literally quite gray at that point. The trees were bare, the grass was dull, and the ground was frozen.
Ever since then, November has always been gray first, and then cold. Entering November often leaves a pit in my stomach. Beyond the very personal reasons, once we are through the delightfully crisp and deeply colored days of October, here in the north we know we are careening quickly towards plummeting temperatures and big piles of snow.
Coziness and comfort
Coziness and comfort are a must! The soft-as-fur throws are already out, as are the flannel pjs and the Silly Cow cocoa. I look also to other things, things that will help me see beauty in November, beauty in the bare trees just as they are, and beauty in pausing between two very bright and fun holidays. But comfort first…
… in a little log cabin
I keep a lot of mementos on my desk at home. I’m a nostalgic, somewhat sentimental person at times, and I likely think too much about the past. There’s this one thing that I bought a little while ago, that I had to buy, because it’s something my dad used to buy for me when visiting Vermont with my family as a little kid. We would stop in Queechee, before heading into the hills and remote roads of Central Vermont. A souvenir shop there always had these well-stocked. I fell in love with this small joy. It’s a little log cabin incense burner, and as a little kid, it absolutely delighted me. I think all of my most essential wishes were contained in that cute little cabin – coziness, comfort, warmth, home, family, love.
These little log cabins (and they sell a large size as well) are produced by Paine, a family-owned company in Auburn, ME. The incense is all natural, made from the tips of Maine fir trees. I was so happy to see that they are still made by a family business, right in New England.
The scent of the burning incense, which is balsam fir, is as comforting as the little log cabin itself. I have lived in this state almost forty years now! And I hadn’t really come across these again until I was recently shopping at a gift store that sold souvenirs as well, and there they were. I couldn’t resist. It now sits right on my desk. When I feel like a little touch of comfort, I light a cone, and it brings me back to that feeling I had as a little kid – safe, secure… home. I think I’ll be lighting it a lot of days throughout November!
Allowing beauty through all seasons
Of course, I know there is a lot to love about November. As I’ve gotten older, the starkness of emotion has softened, the edge is off the low mood. It is a beautiful time, though quieter and rawer than earlier in fall. There is often snow on the mountains, creating a gorgeous scene of contrasting whites and grays. Bears are no longer raiding neighborhood yards, so we can put out birdseed again. It’s always a joy to watch chickadees, nuthatches, cardinals, titmice, woodpeckers, and blue jays raiding the feeders! Deer are spotted often at the edges of the wood, and turkeys make their procession across the fields every day.
All of this creates a stunning, powerful lead-up to Thanksgiving. It’s a quiet pause, a time for a bit of hunkering down and reflecting, a time for seeing the beauty of nature in shades of gray and brown, but rich and deep all the same. I think that little Paine log cabin epitomizes what November here in the New England mountains can be: cozy and comforting.
To learn more
Visit Paine Products for more info on these little log cabins, and for other naturally scented products. In addition to the little log cabins, they offer myriad products that will help bring coziness and comfort! Btw, this is not an affiliate link, it just goes directly to this great old New England company 🙂
~ Nellie
