The Big Beautiful November Poem

Gloom, murmurations, sudden snowfall, twinkling lights

It is big beautiful poem of the month time! In which I take your comments on my posts from the last month and weave them into a word picture made up of snippets of your lives. This is a particularly varied one, as we have had a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions and weather. Poor November us, we have been through it.

An apology: I know (think?) that some of you like to listen to this poem, read out by me. I am currently staying at my mum’s while we get our bathroom done over (VERY exciting, it’s only taken us 20 years…) and I am finding myself working wherever people aren’t, shifting around day to day and even hour to hour and…cannot find the recording device, which I know I brought with me. Next time.

Anyway, get yourself a cup of tea, a mug of hot chocolate, a shot of Baileys, and perhaps your first mince pie of the year, and settle down. Here we go:

The crinch crunch of leaves on a walk along the river, a flash of blue as a kingfisher darts upstream. Hot chocolate on the return home

Falling leaves and pumpkins. Cosy, fairy lights on to remember the light will return. Eventually

Unspooling across a perfect sky, a skein of wild geese

Alternating days of gloomy mizzle and glorious sunshine

Newly pruned and mulched rose beds

Noticing how different leaves fall in their own way - willow more straight down, beech more twirly

A Samhain fire in the garden. The clouds clearing, revealing lots of stars and Jupiter shining so brightly in the sky

Recording the fungi in the local graveyard. Two new additions yesterday: a witches hat (Hygrocybe conica) and an Earth tongue (Geoglossum sp.)

Curating a show and enjoying an artist’s palette of pinks oranges and copper hues -the tree canopies are competing in their beauty as the leaves glimmer

Two stags and four or more does running fast through the trees across our path. Just legs and antlers and a flash of mottle through the leaves

Our annual influx of ladybirds on the back windows

Dressing up the house and ourselves for some local trick or treating, the 5yo requesting a kraken outfit, which saw me sewing legs and tentacles late on the evening before

A quiet Samhain tarot session with candles and a warm drink after all the fun of the evening on 31st. A new tradition I'd like to continue

Roaring leaf blowers clearing carpets of leaves, tree skeletons showing their beautiful structure, gold and orange ‘mums waiting to be discarded, Halloween goblins back to their other lives

A string of grey, still days, each giving way to a beautiful sunset and the softest, pink sky

The houses so spookily festive, the park trees silhouetted against the darkening sky, lots of sweet little ghosts and skeletons

Snacking on leftover gingerbread skeletons and walking in the misty outside world

Carving pumpkins and setting up Hallowe'en decorations

The tall silver birch in our back garden erupting in an orange waterfall of leaves, almost overnight and spotting Orion peeping over the rooftops just before going to bed, a reminder that winter is nigh

Crunching through crispy leaves

Our half term trip - fossil hunting along the coast, finding real life treasure in the sand. The little ones dressing up and getting excited to have trick or treaters at the holiday cottage door. Two little witches throwing pebbles into the sea under a misty sky.

Crows and jackdaws very vocal, and the starlings are back

A local liquidambar tree has burst alight

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A gloomy, heartbreaking week. The writing circle I held this week was extra tender, conversations with friends extra long, and I have taken more time to journal and sit in the woods

Spectacular murmurations as the starlings arrive from the continent. There were so many birds this week that I could hear them changing direction and it was like a wave running back down a pebble beach

Dull and grey and quite mild here in West Yorkshire. Snuggling on the sofa with the laptop discovering family history: sad stories and mysterious ancestors

Everything feels off-kilter. Got over to the mountains in western North Carolina where the beech trees created pockets of gold on the mountainsides. We saw the remnants of the hurricane damage, but we also looked out over ridge after ridge that has been here since time immemorial and reflected on how to outlast the current crisis

A spate of warm weather, bronze and copper oak leaves still dropping, cardinals using the deck as a feeder platform, chickadees watching for the appearance of feeders

Really feeling this gloom in my bones this time

Endless dull skies robbing us of light. Eerie stillness, like the world is holding its breath and the leaves are reluctant to fall

On the pond, the four cygnets have spread their wings and headed off to join the other teenagers

The blackberries think it's still autumn and the daisies and gorse think it's spring. I see the tips of bulbs peeping through the soil

The big puffy jacket is out, warm scarves, gloves and big boots on standby. Candles and twinkly lights alongside cosy blankets are my tonic for the dark nights ahead

Lighting fires and reading Carly Mountain ‘s ‘Descent & Rising: Women’s Stories & the Embodiment of the Inanna Myth’ has kept the sense of patriarchal victory at bay

Feeling grateful for my warm house

Deciduous trees glowing in warm reds, oranges and yellows. One storm away from being bare again. Creek flowing full, no longer a summer trickle. Early hellebores blooming

Eating beautiful soups with the minerality of cavolo nero and walking in a continual gloaming

Doing my utmost to get out and about, even walking around in the early dark because the autumn workplace Step Count Challenge has kicked off!

Dark, misty mornings balanced by lighted windows and a perpetual smell of woodsmoke in the air. A box of bulbs in the corner of the kitchen still to plant. Thinking about the Christmas book order

A garden fire and sparklers, hotpot, cheese and onion pie and parkin. Me and my dad had long sticks to poke at the fire and a pint or two of Guinness

The trees have shed their leaves, now admiring their limbs and trunks against the low-arcing sun where foliage once obscured their silhouettes

Beautiful spiderwebs on a sunny Sunday morning walk

The New Forest, remaining colourful despite the grey skies, the air moist and still, the only sound was the soft skittering of falling leaves

The starlings are here, using a tree at the edge of our garden to congregate. Their call is deafening, then silence for a few seconds before they all take to the air

All the carved pumpkin lanterns at our school's Sint Maarten/Saint Martin celebrations

Struggling to breathe deeply and hoping to regain the ability to take comfort in the natural world. Maybe tonight the skies will clear and the moon will smooth my tattered soul

It really is dull and grey but the beautiful colours of the dogwoods and ginkgo are lighting my garden

Lemon yellow leaves on the dark grey tarmac paths into school

Tiny little toadstools along an old fallen tree look like a fairy village

Harvesting my first clump of Jerusalem artichokes for a new recipe: Jerusalem Artichoke Soufflé. Delicious and none of the usual Jerusalem artichoke side effects

The last of the autumn colour shining through the mist and the sounds of blackbirds

Sitting round a fire pit with chilli and jacket spuds, toasting marshmallows on long sticks, watching fireworks and enjoying sparklers

Driving to radiotherapy we call out the glorious colours - gold, russet, acid yellow, deep burgundy, bright red, pumpkin orange, ginger, tan

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The coastline in thick fog which was rolling up the valley, but as we walked up the lane the sun broke through the trees above the stream

Ivy flowers buzzing with insects

Picking purple field blewits and making a mushroom sauce with gnocchi

Kicking through the leaves as I walk to work on cold starlit mornings

Cake made with toffee apple curd, and a succession of rib sticker dinners

Listening to the leaves pitter patter down all around me, like leaf ‘snow’

Squirrels busily collecting and burying nuts for the winter, running across the telephone wire above our garden to collect supplies from a chestnut tree back to the huge oak that they live in, and driving our little dog nuts

The owl is back. At 1am it calls out to me from the tree

Winter is nearly here now. I'm ready to coorie down

I live in the U.S.A. and things have felt turned inside out in my world. To keep myself myself, I took action: I reconnected with friends, made some new ones, re-devoted myself to my passion of keeping a food pantry, made soup, baked bread, looked at the gorgeous leaves, a final burst of roses in my garden, read. I am still here. I am still in control of myself. I am still hopeful.

The Fenwicks Christmas window being unveiled here in Newcastle

Remembrance Day parade with the Scouts in the mizzle and coming home to a roasted pork joint

Getting into the Christmas spirit early by watching a Hallmark movie about romance in a Scottish castle, which was brilliantly terrible

Window dressers with baubles aplenty and the installation of the Christmas tree in its usual place outside Bath Abbey

A saunter around the lanes near the church after dark when choir practice was taking place

More birds in the garden now and I’ve stocked up on different kinds of bird food. Wood pigeons bouncing about on the smaller branches of the crab apple tree, trying and usually managing to get at the last remaining fruits

The Nativity scene is up early, the remaining oak leaves still drifting

Beech trees in full glory

The bright shining super moon rising while the sun set. At work, up on a hill, we could see both at the same time, before the sky went a candyfloss pink and the clouds looked like rows of tightly woven braids

A week of beautiful sunrises and the first bit of nip in the air

The beech leaves: swaddled in golden hues above, below and up the sides of the banks. Kicking them in the air, the dogs going through like snow ploughs

Peak fall foliage in California, golden ginkgo, liquid amber, big leaf maple, all glowing in cloud filtered sun. Leaves to crunch in, full moon, and king tides this weekend present so many possibilities to engage with the real world outside while trying to combat the inner turmoil so many of us are experiencing

Walking through the leaf strewn park in the company of my shadow

Sunrises so bright and colorful I think I’m still dreaming. To the west, the pinkish orange glow on the snow-capped Rocky Mountains

Shivering through an 8-hour planned power cut, in anticyclonic gloom and with Covid. All a bit 19th-century

Moon bathing under the Beaver Moon

In the last weeks of pregnancy and I am down to one coat that sort-of fits, just in time for the cold...

Finding a magical, mystical fly agaric mushroom in our local woodland

Winter tiredness with slower days and early nights. A hot water bottle in my bed ready to keep me toasty into the night

Warming foods on the menu and a delicious homemade curry

Campfire smell lingering in our 'big coats' days after returning from the woods

Bathing in the light of a big silvery full moon, the air cool and amazingly still, music drifting over from a party a few doors down, children laughing, Jupiter peeking out of the hazy cloud

Tucking up the last of my summer onions and shallots in their winter jars of spiced vinegar

Sitting on the swing in the park with the breeze blowing beech leaves at me

A weekend skiing in the new snow and now ready to begin the Christmas season

Reading about how the trees can teach us to let go of everything we don't need, as they happily let their leaves go at this time of year

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A frozen pond, and the ducks and moorhens looked a bit perplexed, then the heron broke the ice and found a tasty snack beneath

A very short-lived teaser of snow, chunky flakes falling and settling oh so briefly, before melting. Stars twinkling intensely as though they are shivering in the icy wind

The water from the cold tap really is cold. I’ve strained and bottled my spiced damson gin and the almond paste is going on the Christmas cake this morning

Our first hard frost finished off the nasturtiums, has been very satisfying clearing them away and mulching

Snow and cold in Worcestershire and so the log fire has been brought out of hibernation. Woollens I haven't worn in months got a nice, snowy outing and we saw a stonechat

Into the city on the bus for bratwurst and gluhwein at the Christmas market

No snow here - just a flurry of sleet, which pushed the teens at school into peak unteachability. Fairy lights around computer screens, and the odd mince pie making an appearance in the staffroom

Heavy snow in Wales. Veils of mist hanging over snow covered mountains and pink skies. Sledging and walking

Extremely cautious walking in the park, under fiercely blue sky, and with air so cold it makes your teeth hurt

The post van slowly creeping down the road after the fresh snow fall

The heated blanket is out for the first time. The snow has tipped people over the edge and there’s a few Christmas trees in windows on our road

Braved the first flurries of snow to ride my horse on the heath and was rewarded with soft fluffy snowflakes

I have a nasty cold, and both cats want to snuggle up between us in bed at night. My big coat, woolly hat and gloves have had their maiden voyages

Snow illuminated in the street light before dawn. Branches bent right over with the weight of the snow on the leaves

Walking in country lanes discovering ammonites in walls while visiting friends to sip tea and eat cake and stay warm in their company

Crunching on frosty grass heading out for a morning run underneath the moon’s gaze

In California, the first intense rains of the season have begun, and brilliant leaves are falling in earnest. My down comforter came out of storage this week, as did my boots and flannel shirts

Frosty Fenland fields twinkling at me in the morning sun as I whizzed past on the train. Skeins of geese over Norfolk skies. Department stores and country houses being wrapped up in big red bows

A woodland both gilded by autumn and crowned with snow

Hot chocolate with a glug of baileys in the evening to warm up

Chickadees with soft, puffed feathers, sitting amongst the sharp thorns of brambles; fresh, clean, white snowflakes settling on variably brown shades of soil and decaying foliage; dark evenings with flickering candles; the calm before the rush of holidays

Scarves, woolly hats and gloves dug out of the pantry. Robins, blackbirds and squirrels picking through the snow. Crystal clear nights with the moon, stars and planets reflecting in the ice and lighting up the snow

Scratching at my neck all week as my skin adjusts to the tickle of wool sweaters

The fresh and freezing sky contending with a badly insulated flat that left me cold to the bone for a few days

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Floods cutting the town in half. School closure

Late afternoon coffee and cardamon buns at the Nordik cafe within sight of a beautifully lit Bath Abbey. Twinkly lights on the tree, a violinist busker and ALL the huts in various states of readiness for the Christmas market madness

The first sighting of Venus as an evening star, hovering in the dusk. Frosty roofs, iced grass crunching underfoot, Jupiter like a beacon, Orion watching the sleeping world, and a meteor blinks across the dark

A blanket of heavy snow. Cold, frosty mornings. Twinkling lights and trees appearing. Cosy warm evenings resting by the log burner

The moment in the afternoon just before closing the curtains when the neighbours' windows are glowing with reflected light in the dusk

Thanksgiving food: pumpkin pie, homemade cranberry sauce, casseroles

Visiting friends in Amsterdam and Bruges. Warm white Christmas lights everywhere and hours catching up in cosy, twinkly cafes, pubs and restaurants where people have done the same thing for many, often hundreds, of years

Rereading Nigel Slater’s A Christmas Chronicle and rewatching Box of Delights

A cold barn full of well wrapped women, slow cookers full of soups and stews, hot tea and coffee and mountains of greenery as we chat and laugh and make wreaths

In the woods amber leaves crunch under foot. The deep green of holly scattered with red, like a child's spatter painting

Digging out my Advent calendar jigsaw ready to go

An onslaught of carbs for Thanksgiving and then the inevitable food coma

Phew what an epic! Please leave your comments below and let me know how you enjoyed it, and I look forward to doing it all again for December.