November Wrap-Up
Garden Photos, Pantry Moths, My Birthday, and a Special Advent Link
They say that things just cannot grow
beneath the winter snow
or so I have been told.
“Winter Song,” Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson
Garden Go Night-Night
She done. Let her sleep.
Most incomplete cleanup job yet in the main garden, but that just means more seeds for birds and other critters to sustain themselves over the winter. The trees in the mini-orchard did get heavily pruned, though. Phillip dug up the Canna lily bulbs for storage. The holly and butterfly bush were moved to more suitable places on the property: the holly to the berm in the front yard, where it was promptly adorned with Christmas lights, and the butterfly bush to the driveway border, where it will have room to grow as ridiculously large as it appears determined to (and if its neighbor the elderberry is a harbinger, also where the soil is likely to nourish its dreams of grandeur).
November was packed with more events than usual. Our youngest daughter really nailed her Wicked Witch role in the middle school/ high school Wizard of Oz production. Our city’s holiday walkabout and parade fell on an unseasonably warm weekend, which was great news for our middle daughter in the marching band. Thanksgiving felt like a whirlwind with family visiting from out-of-town, but in a good and delicious way. That same week brought tragedy to our community, too, with the untimely death of a young man who had been a friend of our son’s when they were younger. I know this time of year brings up pain for many people, for many reasons of loss and hurt. Please know that I get it and I acknowledge how especially hard it can be just to keep going, and never more so than when the message around you is to be merry and celebratory. I do try to focus on the good and beautiful in these essays, but life is never joy without some measure of pain, and when I share about feasting I have not forgotten that times of sorrow will come around again, nor that their distribution is inequitable.
Back on the home front, we had an infestation of pantry moths in our… pantry. They are just what they sound like, and they produce larvae that feed on grains of all types, from cereal and pasta to ground flours to popcorn. Which means maggots, and therefore food that we had to throw out. An expensive and gross way to learn this lesson, but we now have multiple labeled containers with sealable lids in which to store our pantry food. The pantry got the most thorough cleaning its had in years. And it now smells like peppermint, from the cotton pads soaked in essential oil that we placed all through the cupboard, to keep away the moths and supposedly mice, as an added bonus.
Eleanor and Me
Eleanor of Aquitaine, that is, the bad@$$ queen of the High Middle Ages, and me, a Midwestern mom of the weird 2020’s… bound to each other across the centuries by our love of books and our distaste for our aging jawlines. As I have just learned from the inimitable historian Ruth Goodman, in Secrets of the Castle (now available for free on YouTube), Queen Eleanor invented the barbette, that ubiquitous 12th & 13th century fashion staple, in order to provide a clever bit of lift & tuck (my words, not Ruth’s) to her sagging chin. Readers, I had my 49th birthday this November, and while I realize the importance of self-acceptance, I am curious as to whether a barbette-adjacent accessory might return a youthful je ne sais quoi to my facial features or just make me look like I have a perpetual toothache? What say you?
December has arrived…
…and with it, Advent. At least on this year’s calendar. This Sunday (actually, beginning Saturday evening) marks the beginning of Advent for many Christian traditions. These 4 weeks leading up to Christmas are the traditional season of preparation for that feast day, with the Christmas season following it (as opposed to leading up to it, which is the current secular tradition in the West). December in the Northern Hemisphere is dark, with short days and long nights; dark for kids catching the morning school bus and dark for grown-ups leaving work in the evening. The festivals of light that are seen across cultures and faith traditions in this month therefore make intuitive sense. In our home, we’ll light another candle in the Advent wreath each week, wake the family with warm rolls and candlelight on St. Lucy’s Day (the previous date of the Solstice, December 13), and appreciate the growing minutes of sunlight each day following the Winter Solstice (December 21).
If you are interested in exploring more Advent traditions, then you are in for a treat! I’m so thrilled to be included in the inaugural issue of
a new space here on Substack, created by a trio of generous & talented women writers. They’ve named this space a Liturgical Living Guild (this history nerd was hooked at Guild), and I hope some of you will check it out and sign up for their newsletter (it’s free!). They’ll be guiding their readers through the Christian year, with contributions from writers and artists of diverse traditions, so if you think that might be your cup of tea, please do head on over:
How does December find you?
Have you had snow? Harvested your Fall garden? Put up holiday decorations? Had some especially delicious food, for Thanksgiving or otherwise?
We’ve had a few snowfalls, the type that stick around for a few days and then melt. Except for scraping some thick morning frost from the car windshield, though, it hasn’t yet turned into a chore to leave the house. Those days will arrive in January and February. At least, that’s what usually happens. I’ve heard so many conflicting weather predictions for this winter that I’ve decided to just wing it. Prepare for the worst (Blizzards! And snow days! And ice, oh my!) but hope for the best (Mild weather? Lower heating bills?).
—Erin, in Michigan
Congrats on the anthology inclusion! And kudos to your daughter; I used to do a bang-on impression of the witch and never got to take it to the stage, so I’m thrilled for her performance. Sorry for your losses, especially such a young kid, and sympathy for the moth infestation! Your little lit-up town looks quaint. I’ve always thought the same about a candle and twinkly lights against the dark of winter. A mental warmth, right when we need it.
Oh Erin, your writing is always so beautiful and tender and relatable. Also, in that bright blue November photo, I spy a Victory garden sign - which just tickles me!
I'm so sorry for your community's devastating loss; you've so wisely encompassed the challenges of these seasons. Have you seen the movie "Inside Out"? I thought it did such a good job of showing how multi-faceted our experiences & memories are as we grow older!
I LOVE Secrets of the Castle, and haha yes, the Eleanor style is so fantastic!!
Thanks so much for sharing about the new guild endeavor...and I'm glad the word "guild" got you too, especially because that's a word that gets me immediately on board for anything, too!