November Chill

Here it is again. The dramatic, Wisconsin November - bare branches etched against the cold gray sky. The Canadian geese have long since departed, having already started their southerly trek in August.

Today a migrating cardinal pecks at the compost in the back yard. It must be a little restaurant for them. I see a pair of them traveling through in earlier spring and later fall. And an occasional blue jay. Although there have been numerous frosts the parsley is still going strong. The little tomatillos (garden "volunteers") still hang on the tomato cages in their papery jackets looking a little forlorn.

Today I'm cooking some cranberry sauce and will make my own birthday cake. I dreamed up a chocolate cranberry cake last year for Townely's B Day in December. Despite speculation, it turned out great, especially with a chocolate/orange frosting. So it will be a gift I give myself and my friends for our little "cake time" tomorrow. It's lovely to have the oven on this time of year, warming up the place. Steam even collected on the windows of the studio when I gave a massage yesterday. Cold weather is good for business.

Other signs of the season - the squirrels ate the face off my Jack-O-Lantern (!!) and I dug out my black fur, Chinese pilot's hat and mittens. Aslan, my big, male, gray tiger-cat, has put on his winter coat. He is soft and very sleek with an extra layer of fur and insulating fat for his nightly forays into the neighborhood.

Strangely, I sit on the front porch swing these days as I sip my coffee in the morning in a sweatshirt, nightgown, bare legs and slippers. I barely feel a chill as bikers whiz by bundled against Jack Frost, pedaling fast to keep warm.

I guess I am truly a child of the fall.