November: The Unpredictable Month

Apart from Thanksgiving in the U.S., can anyone really pin much reliability on November? To me, it is a busy month and it's over before I know it, leaving me even more harried before the December holiday season. It could be sunny and 60. It could be snowy. Mostly it is just drab.

Pumpkins on the china cabinet

I haven't shared much home dec these days because for the most part, I haven't had a lot of clear surfaces to photograph! But some of the photos here are from this year's decor, most of which got up late! 

Vignette in the hutch. Mom gave me this Hummel.

Rick got home from the lake -- he was there for about two weeks and saw it change from autumn to early winter with several inches of snow. He took this photo on the first morning of the snow.

Rick captures this view of the lake on the morning of the first snow

Before he left he saw Harry North, my beautiful heron, along with a platoon of Mergansers. I was surprised Harry was still there -- and delighted. Rick, meanwhile, was welcomed home with a lovely dinner!

Welcome Home, Rick! A happy autumn table, good wine, the last of the marigolds

My art sale is this week and I will have quite a selection of cards, watercolors and felties. After the show is over I'll be offering some of these on Marmelade Gypsy for purchase if you are interested. We didn't do this last year due to Covid and I have no idea how things will fly this year, but it feels good to be back at it.

My area in our 2019 sale; we didn't do one in 2020.

I spent a fun morning talking to MFA design candidates in theatre at Michigan State about my lifelong commitment to the arts. Their assignment will be to create a lobby design for the auditorium funded by a "major donor" (me, but alas, it's a scenario; I didn't win the lotto!) and a "gown" for the lobby opening. Their assignments will be due in a couple of weeks and I look forward to seeing what these talented young men and women come up with.

I didn't do a September or October book post but will be getting one up soon. I haven't read nearly so much as I had hoped, but some good things, including a revisit to this one.

A wonderful, first edition find!

I found this first edition of Stuart Little at a charity shop this summer and it reminded me a bit of my cottage mouse, although I don't think his adventures are nearly so exciting as those of E.B. White's Stuart! Someday our little guys will be able to read this one and I hope they'll love it like I do.

A trio of Vintage by Crystal Thanksgiving and Halloween characters

I've been satisfying my desire of things British with some fun television. I'm a big fan of "Call the Midwife," "Grantchester" and "Death in Paradise" (PBS) and "The Great British Baking Show" (on Netflix). But I've also found several I'm really enjoying on Acorn. (They may be on Britbox also, but I don't have that. Yet.)

The family room mantel. I have to have water repair work done on the ceiling. It's always something.

Henry IX -- A comedy series on Acorn with Charles Edwards (The father of Edith's child on "Downton Abbey,"), Don Warrington (from my fave "Death in Paradise," and a number of other Brit actors familiar to me. Henry is a forty-something monarch who finds the trappings of monarchy outdated. You can find it on Acorn. There are three half-hour episodes and great fun.

Charles Edwards as Henry IX

Manhunt - Martin Clunes (Doc Martin) plays Colin Sutton, a Scotland Yard detective on the trail of a recent murder which begins to tie in with several cold cases. One hour, several episodes in each of two seasons.

Kitchen Vignette - Hall china cream/sugar; Taylor cup, charming English cottage from a dear friend; Delft from Holland; holiday plates and pumpkins!

Dalgliesh -- Based on P.D. James classic detective novels, Bertie Carvel is the cerebral poet-detective Adam Dalgliesh. I've just seen the first episode (two parts), which is set in a school for nurses and where the nurses are being murdered. It's a well written mystery and I look forward to the next two adaptations.

On the china cabinet - goblins and ghosties!

Vintage Roads Great and Small -- Long before the new adaptation of "All Creatures Great and Small," Christopher Timothy and Peter Davison starred as James and Tristan in the 1970s version of the series. This series reunites the two friends who tour backroads of the UK in vintage cars, meeting interesting people along the way and indulging in great laughter, good times and gorgeous scenery. It's like traveling along with two dear friends. 

In the hutch - china Halloween cats; "Word of the Year"; pumpkin on a bike; a favorite Hummel; "Lord Nelson tea set," and other favorites.

I did a road trip to IKEA over the weekend with my friend Kate. This is always dangerous but this time I left with only a few things not on my list. OK, let’s be honest. Quite a few, but many of those extras are holiday gifts. Then it was on to Trader Joe’s, another spot I’d not been to in a long time. It was very productive…for them. And for me, too.

Top of the china cabinet.

So, that’s life these days. When I spoke to the students, I began by saying that when the professor first asked me to talk about my life and commitment to the arts, I knew my life wasn’t really exciting. No Tony Awards or wildly exciting adventures. But it has always been a very good life, a contented one. Sometimes stressful, sometimes sad, mostly happy and always full of love.

A spooky welcome in the hall for Halloween night.

You really can’t beat that.

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