November is my least favorite month, but as I plunge deeper into photography, I learn to see its beauty. I choose joy.

I started my morning walk around Bedlam  Farm this morning with a visit to Zip. When it rains, he holes up in two places, but his primary residence is the barn. We did make time to visit together in the barn.

This morning, I smelled a dead animal in the barn; it smelled like a dead mouse. I think it may be Zip’s first kill in the barn. This morning kicked off November, my least favorite and the gloomiest.

Maria and I have head colds; I’ve been coughing all night. We’re also mostly trapped inside on this gloomy, wet day.

Today, I will pick up some chocolate for the exhausted pharmacy staff at Walgreens. They have been working hard and doing well, especially since the new round of vaccines came out. I’ll drop off the chocolates, and then I’ll get some throat medicine. Every day, I try to do some good, big or small.

The coughing is painful for my still-healing ribs.

I admire Walgreens’ pharmacy staff; they are usually exhausted and busy but always courteous and helpful. This year, the pharmacy crew has moved to the fore of my life. I often need them, and they are always there. Like post office carriers, we take them for granted. But they are very important. I have the sense our culture is forgetting how to thank people for the excellent and hard work they do. The pharmacy is indispensable in my life and the lives of many others. I make sure to thank them every day. The chocolates don’t hurt either.

We need to be more gentle with one another. It’s not always easy, but it’s always important.

Maria is working hard selling her wool and making her dryer balls. It’s fun but exhausting, and she works very hard during what we call Wool Week. I hope I can get her to rest today. Our colds are blossoming together, and coughing wreaks havoc with my still-stored ribs.

We both have problems with making time to rest.  We have fires going in both wood stoves—a good day for quit. I thought Maria’s Monday Morning Video was lovely today:

Above is Maria’s Monday morning video. It captures the feeling and sends love out into the ether. She is an accomplished artist, a writer, and a photographer. How about that?

It’s gloomy but beautiful. The shop went to the back pasture, paying no attention to the rain. I love the trees and hills in this light.

The donkeys are no fools. Their idea about cold rain: stay out of it.

Say goodbye to the garden beds; there is a hard frost tonight. I’ve got my manure and fresh soil ready for the garden bed; the flowers will all be dead by tomorrow. I’m thankful for the excellent work the raised beds did for me this year. I appreciate it, it was a big step for me and a good one.

Uninvited guests: The barn swallows love to hang out in the chicken roosts, especially in the rain. Everything on the farm is put to good use and the animals share.

 

Sun or rain, the hay has to come out every day. Maria always counts the sheep and says hello. .

We are bringing in some flowers to live inside before the frost. There’s a hard frost tonight, the end of the season for my garden bed. The bed will shut down and re-soiled; the flowers will keep coming on the blog. Stay warm and safe.

Looking at Maria’s studio through the eyes of the apple tree it captures the gloomy feeling of the morning.

Autumn colors

 

Photo painting: Pasture in the heavy rain. Looks like a painting to me.