‘Bare November days’

— Photo by E.mil.mil

My sorrow, when she’s here with me,
     Thinks these dark days of autumn rain
Are beautiful as days can be;
She loves the bare, the withered tree;
     She walks the sodden pasture lane.

Her pleasure will not let me stay.
     She talks and I am fain to list:
She’s glad the birds are gone away,
She’s glad her simple worsted grey
     Is silver now with clinging mist.

The desolate, deserted trees,
     The faded earth, the heavy sky,
The beauties she so truly sees,
She thinks I have no eye for these,
     And vexes me for reason why.

Not yesterday I learned to know
     The love of bare November days
Before the coming of the snow,
But it were vain to tell her so,
     And they are better for her praise.

“My November Guest,’’ by Robert Frost (1874-1963)

A November space

"Fall Trees"  (pastel on paper), by Dave Kaphammer, in the show "32 Almost Miniatures,'' at Francesca Anderson Fine Art, Lexington, Mass., through Jan. 14. He works primarily in pastels to evoke impressionist details of nature  to capture the beauty and personality.

“But there is always a November space after the leaves have fallen when she felt it was almost indecent to intrude on the woods…for their glory terrestrial had departed and their glory celestial of spirit and purity and whiteness had not yet come upon them.” 

L.M. Montgomery, from "Anne of Windy Poplars''
 

Featured artist Dave Kaphammer works primarily in pastels in order to create impressionist details of nature in order to capture the beauty and personality, 

November no and yes

Bad things about November include the lack of light and the headache-inducing tradition of having Thanksgiving on a Thursday afternoon. The good things include no more weeding for a while and the breezy openness of the woods after a hard freeze (still waiting around here for one) and a good Nor'easter.