TIS MY SEASON OF GRATITUDE

Happy November. I meant to get 1 more blog posted for October but yesterday just slipped by so fast that I rolled into November without even realizing it. October has been wild...yep! One wild month. I spent the first 15 days of the month sick with some kind of flu bug and I turned sixty. We then had an earthquake and a hurricane...mild though they were, they were enough to make my mother tremble and me kneel down on the ground in prayers of gratitude to live where I live. Two of our dear friends died of motorcycle related injuries and their void is huge. Mortality is a strict teacher  and I try to pay attention without losing heart. October saw me planting 220 bulbs of organic garlic and bedding them all down in compost and oat straw. The ground can freeze anytime it wants to but I  haven't yet had a killing frost in my garden and I am still picking broccoli, collards and kale. Now it's hunting season and in some ways I feel like the woods are taken away from me because there are enough accidents that it's rather scary to go walking in the woods even with hunter orange on but I do sometimes just because I need to NOT feel intimidated. Sadie misses our woodsy wandererings and so do I.

Hurricane Sandy did the job of removing all the golden brown and yellow leaves from the diciduous trees so once the yard dries out, I can do my last mow of the season. Then the mower gets sent to the back of the barn and the snow blower comes down to the garage. Our delivery of firewood is nearly all stacked and under the porch roof. This weekend we will turn the clocks back and our mornings will naturally start earlier. Stephen has been working on a remodel of our downstairs bathroom that comes to completion today or tomorrow. It is a huge change...a healing of sorts and I imagine it will have a wild effect on our psyche's over time. I've been enjoying long swims in the pool at the Bethel Inn, thinking about my Dad and the warm turquoise water inspired me to paint the bathroom the color of Carribean water. Perfect to show off a little water color my Dad did of the beach house we enjoyed our lives long at the beach we went to as children. Stephen and I wander around the house just loving it out loud. For us it is a perfect blend of old and new...a craftman's house that delights our souls with the slant of light, the placement of the trees and porches. Again...we are so grateful to be here where we are. We don't really need all the photos of Sandy's destruction to count our blessings and our hearts break for the pain so many are going through to see their lives upturned and their belongings destroyed. Just as easily as not, the hurricane could have followed a more northern route and our season of gratitude might have gotten off on the wrong foot. As I reflect on the month of October, I am amazed by the intensity of the changes wrought by mother nature. Nothing exemplifies it more clearly than the my experience of the earthquake on October 16th. What was an ordinary evening reviewing the nightly news turned extraordinary when the couch began to shake and the corner of our home vibrated to the sound of a runaway train. I thought there was a black bear on our porch shaking at the corner of the house. I kicked Stevo and told him to stop it. He thought an 18 wheeler went by with no lights. How we tell ourselves stories to explain reality...its a very human phenomena but all our explanations did was avoid the truth of the moment. That we were having an earthquake occured to us but only as a shared joke. When the ticker tape came across the screen and the truth was out...I went to bed in a state of awe. All I could say was...my mother trembles. We all tremble.

October was a good month for bringing out the true colors of our presidential candidates. It will be a re-leaf when it is all over. I've never been political. I just don't see the functionality of our government beneath the greed and lies and manipulation of the truth to make a political stand. I don't trust the government no matter who is in office...but I'll tell you this. I will always vote. And I will always vote for the person I percieve as being a human being with some integrity. Thank you to hurricane Sandy for showing us all one of the reasons for a good government...to come to the aid of people dealing with mass destruction. If the government wasn't owned by big oil and big Ag...there might not be a censure on the mouths of our nation's scientists and the general public might be able to see the truth of global warming. The biggest issue of all is the one the politicians are most silent about. What better way to create jobs than to deal with reality and begin the great work of saving our planet for our grandchildren.  Personally I hope Sandy has been helpful to Obama because as our choices stand...he is the man with a heart for the most diverse of American people and his word isn't changing every other day. The whole planet is at stake...and if the American people back Romney...say goodbye to the environment. We can't wait for big money on the issue of climate change. There has never been so much at stake in a presidential election. I may have my own private Earthquake if Romney gets voted in and I'll never believe the numbers...not when his son owns the voting machines of the swing state the whole election may depend on. October's political climate has been very like a cyclone.

Ah but now it is November...the season of gratitude. November is the twilight of the year...the river is swollen to overflowing and there is an unkindness of ravens in the hayfield across the street. All the trees are bare naked and stand against the sky like black lace. The huge orange moon has plenty of visibility even when you can't see the forest for the trees. I'm praying like a nun...on my knees yes I am for Obama to win the election...for the lamb that is readying itself for our table to have a good death...quick and sure...just the way I want to go...for jobs to come to our western mountains. but not too many...for the cold to come so the bugs die. The more I depend on my garden for sustenance, the more nature determines the flow of my days. The wild of October has worked it's magic and now I will give thanks for this one wild life.

Tonight I will put out a bowl of food for the souls who wander nearby. Maybe a weasel...maybe a bear or maybe a human...anyway...to me they are all saints. Happy All Saints Day.