November.........

November......I will always think of the Edmund Fitzgerald, of Guy Fawkes night and cold crisp Autumn days with guilded leaves touched with frost.

Spiders webs frozen in the hazy morning sun, shining like a thousand diamonds and my breath puffing white in the air. The hedges have hairnets of gossamer silk spun in the night by who? A thousand fairies who come each evening to complete that task?

I love it when you inhale and your nose closes shut with the coldness of the air. Not healthy for animals who have to run, cold air in the lungs. Some used to cover the noses with a scarf and it would get wet and freeze in the air. We had to keep our horses in the barn on some days when it was that cold.

When I was a child growing up in England our windows would freeze. Jack Frost would paint incredible designs on each pane of glass and a small pile would accumulate along the seals on the window ledges. Why that is a treasured memory I don't really know but most of us who grew up that way remember it. Wearing your hat and gloves in bed, socks on and a hot water bottle still did not keep us warm.

The robin redbreast would show up among the frosty branches like a little red berry

The fruit left on the trees would glow like Christmas ornaments.............frosty mornings, I just love them.


A frosty morning is also best spent in front of a big blazing fire toasting crumpets for breakfast before venturing out into the cold.

Sharing with Our World Tuesday

Frosty Mornings.............

I was talking on my garden blog about the beauty of frosty mornings. I remember getting up to go to work when still living at my Mum's house. The window panes were always covered with patterns in ice. There was no heat in the house except for a coal fire in the living room. Dad had the job of getting up and stoking the fire. It was chilly at best. When I was first married we spent some time there at my parents home. They gave us their bedroom for the duration. Well my husband being American had not dealt with unheated houses. He would get undressed and dressed best he could under the covers. What a wimp. To put it delicately he chose to have a "poe" under the bed rather than go downstairs to the unheated bathroom. He thought it was quicker if somewhat cumbersome. I could not tell him how to use it, being a woman...... and he was not about to ask Dad. I would roll around laughing as he literally froze his arse off. It would have been quicker to go downstairs. I digress.............when I was young and going to work in the mornings, those lovely crisp days were a joy. Maybe not at the time, but I appreciate the experience now its over. It was beautiful though without a doubt. I have chosen a few pictures that I have found on the web as because I could never capture the scenes myself at the moment. The scene I recalled was me walking along the path to the road and seeing the cobwebs frozen on the hedges. It was so pretty and my breath was in the air, my nose tingling with cold already, a scarf wrapped around my face. I don't even bother with a coat anymore. I had to walk to the bus stop and pass the fields on my way. These pictures evoke such memories. They are not mine and I apologize if I have not given credit to the owners as none were listed I took a short cut to the bus stop down the "little lane" past cow pastures and fields. Often the frost was so thick on the trees it could have been snow. (by photontrappist) Standing waiting for a bus on a cold November day was as cold as I have ever been. I have never been so cold here in Michigan even in sub zero temps. Somehow the cold in England gets in the bones. When the morning was full of hoare frost then it was indeed magic. I seldom see frost like this here in Michigan and so it makes me think of home and those cold cold days before heated homes. Great memories and I really do not know why except that it was a more simple time. A more honest time somehow.