Miscellany of a Cheshire Cat

This weekend I took a bunch of photos that are quintessential "November" to me. November is that time after the splendor of Autumn is gone and before the wonder of Winter begins. It’s gray, dreary and kind of dead. It’s that ugly time before the snow comes and covers all the brown and kills whatever remains of the green. And I love it.

The color palate in November is limited but still very strong - rich browns, strong reds and a few remaining dark greens. All of which will fade in December then disappear under bright white snow. November is underrated!

This photo is one I took somewhere in my parents’ yard. The red berries are such a great punctuation for the browning ground foliage. Bits of green are still here and there but already pretty frost-bitten. Click on the thumbnail for a bigger, more detailed version. If you want to get up close and personal with these little red berries, the original size is here.

tags: autumn, berries, colors, fall, november, transitions

It’s been a very gray Monday here so I am combating the drear with a very orange pumpkin! It’s a proper November day though - dim, threatening to be damp and generally conducive to naps, hot soup and building fires. Of course, I haven’t been able to do any of these things since I’m working today.

I had a most excellent and very busy weekend! Here’s the summary of my whirlwind tour for those of you interested:

• Thursday night I flew up to New Hampshire. Jon picked me up and we hauled K out to dinner at a fabulous Mexican restaurant in Concord.
• Friday morning, my mom picked me up for our adventures in Portland. I spent a lot of money on an embroidery sewing machine. I’ll be picking it up when I drive up for the holidays in December. Lunch Friday consisted of Maine Italians which made me really, really happy. Friday afternoon, I had a conference call that I couldn’t really miss, unfortunately. Friday night was spent hanging with the parental units and eating yummy hamburgers.



• Saturday morning we went back into Portland to go to an Italian grocery we hadn’t had time to go to the day before. Lunch Saturday was fresh mozzarella, Italian bread and bits of prosciutto. We made some really tasty cookies and fiddled about with my mom’s embroidery machine for a bit in the afternoon. The marvelous slyppi whisked me off to her brother’s house for a birthday party for her nephew (who is now 4!). We had a lovely time - much wine was had by all and I enjoyed meeting more of her brother’s in-laws. They are a fun family. We spent the night at slyppi’s dad’s condo in the Old Port.
• Sunday morning we wandered about a few shops in the Old Port then had brunch with our hosts. The Porthole makes awesome breakfast. We hung out with slyppi’s dad and M a little longer then headed towards Manchester to drop me off at the airport… of course, we had to stop along the way for a little, very successful shopping!

So all in all it was an excellent weekend. The weather up north was mild yet chilly - just biting enough to remind us that it was November. I took some photos in Windham and the Old Port that I’ll post eventually too.

Somewhere in there I found time to write about 1000 words for Nanowrimo. I’m about 2000 words behind now, but my plan is to make that up this week, hopefully by the weekend. If not, the weekend will be a big word-count push. I’m getting really excited about the world I’m creating as well as the story that’s wrapping around it. I still have no idea about a couple of key plot points, but they’ll come eventually… I hope!

tags: maine, nanowrimo, new hampshire, old port, photographs, photography, sewing, travel, weather, weekend, writing

When we were up in New England, we got to Maine after dusk and as such I only took a few photos and I like … 2 of them. I’m not a big fan of flash but I kind of like how this photo came out though the center leaves have a little too much light.

Remember to turn your clocks back tonight and be careful in the evenings this week! Daylight savings time always screws people up - auto and pedestrian fatalities go up significantly around the changing of the clocks. There’s nothing like artificially shifting our day by an hour to muck everything up.

I’ve been writing a lot today… I’m up to 6092 words so I’m currently on pace. I’m hoping to get 10k done by the end of this weekend so I have a little bit of a margin of error in case of writer’s block. So far I’m amused by the little world I’m building. The nanowrimo web site is slow as molasses going up hill in Maine in January, but my profile is here - drop me a comment or e-mail with your profile info if you’re also doing the race.

tags: autumn, daylight savings time, fall back, leaves, maine, nanowrimo

After a week of Starbucks coffee, I love to come home to my own tasty coffee… Freshly ground Armeno beans, french pressed brew, a cup with whole milk instead of my usual low-fat milk because I used up my milk on my cereal. It is bliss. This is not to say that Starbucks coffee sucks… I do enjoy it. But mine is much, much better. And cheaper. And easily acquired without needing to get dressed or leaving the house. Which is good since it has finally turned into a comfortably cool fall out here and running to Starbucks in my pjs would be chilly.

Another bit of Fall for you all… The farm stand Jon took us to had something called The Observatory. It was a raised deck about 15 feet off the ground that you could climb up and take in the scene. It may not sound like much, but it got us off the ground just far enough to take in the full, breath-taking views of the valley and mountains and fall colors. We went up there first, before the sun came out, so the foliage colors are even more intense in the photos. Gray days really are the best for fall colors.

My kitchen is littered with junk food, much of which I hope the Fop will be taking on his road trip to Crown this weekend.

I started writing for Nanowrimo this morning. I broke one of the usual recommendations. Usually it’s recommended that one not build on a previous short story or world because the writer will end up being too careful and too invested in the content to push out the 50,000 words as slap-dash as necessary. I’m hoping to avoid this problem through the sheer desire to get this world built and some actual plot into the world. I started to sketch an outline for some scene progressions yesterday as well as started to evolve the world around the events of the short story. I got down 732 words this morning before work and I have some time planned later today for writing. I can’t count the short story as part of my word count, which is fine, but I’ve incorporated part of what I wanted to add to the end of the short story from last set of editing notes.

Yes, I got up this morning and was awake enough to write. I got productive things done before 9 a.m. I know that this comes as a shock to those of you who have known me for a long time. Hey, I figure if this stupid allergy medicine is going to make me not get enough sleep, I should take advantage of the extra time!

tags: allergies, autumn, coffee, fall, foliage, nanowrimo, new hampshire, sleep, travel, weather

It’s Tuesday, I’m in Connecticut and I’m wearing polka-dot socks. I have training this morning and most of tomorrow and meeting most of the rest of the time. I’m not sure when I’m going to get actual work done this week. Yes, I’m still tired. I started waking up at 2:40 this morning and then woke periodically, about every hour, until the alarm went off at 6. I would really like my body to get used to this new allergy medicine because it’s doing lovely things for my actual allergies… I don’t want to have to choose between sleeping and breathing!

It’s cold out there! YAY! Not too cold, chilly is a better word. I do wish I’d brought gloves. The steering wheel of my pumpkin-mobile is cold! (Yes, it’s a pumpkin. I got an orange Saturn Vue from the rental place this week. It’s really quite cute and festive.)

tags: allergies, cars, random, socks, training, weather, work

So, the week is almost over… I think we’ll all survive, right? It’s still wet and gray here so I thought more color would be good for today’s photo!

Indian corn has never really interested me before… but I never really looked at it either. The colors and patterns are fascinating! I wish I’d taken more photos of the bin of corn. Some of the kernels look more like seashell colors and textures than corn. I keep switching between this photo and some pumpkins for my desktop image. If you want to look at or steal the really, really huge version, click away!

tags: autumn, corn, farm stand, friday, indian corn

It’s a gloriously gray, wet, cool day here today. It’s positively autumnal! HURRAY! Now if only I weren’t so tired…

When we were at the farm stand Saturday, there was one of those moments when the sun breaks through the clouds and just lights everything up so that it glows against the gray. Every color becomes more vibrant, each leaf or pumpkin is suddenly bright and distinct, and the air even seems crisper. Beneath the big orange and yellow tree are pick-your-own apple trees.

In other news, the week is flying by. This is both good and bad, as always. I could really use a nap.

tags: autumn, color, fall, new hampshire, trees, weather

The impending chaos of my day determines which size french press I use for my coffee and whether or not I wait (and putter) in the kitchen for it to brew or if I carry it upstairs to my office. Two mornings in a row I’ve brought it upstairs. This morning I bumped up to the larger french press.

So it’s been a busy week already. I’ve got a fully populated to-do list and a bunch of new projects to support. I’m certainly not bored! (Okay, the meeting I’m in right this moment is kind of dull.)

This photo is from a farm stand in Concord, NH we went to with my brother on Saturday. Apples just taste better from a farm stand… as do pumpkin whoopie pies! The world needs more farm stands!

In other news… Itty Bitty Kitty Committee will consume your soul with cuteness and adorableness. You have been warned.

Stretching in your chair is good for the soul. Making strange noises while stretching in your chair gets you looks from your cat.

tags: autumn, cat links, cats, coffee, fall, farm stand, links, photographs, photography, pumpkins, work

This is another photo from Friday up at Castle in the Clouds. Same tree, different angle. Inside the Carriage House is a huge field stone fireplace flanked by these cute square windows. I couldn’t get quite the angle I wanted on this photo (it would have been rude to drag over a chair then stand on it) but I like how it came out.

The day was too long, a bit of chaos waited for me this morning, work was a bit crazier than usual, and my off-again/off-again project might actually be on sometime soon.

The fires in California are scary. One of my coworkers commented that she wasn’t yet in any danger from the fire North of her. Or from the one to the South. And the one to the East was far off today as well. She’s optimistic primarily because they don’t have a lot of wind where she’s at despite all the smoke.

tags: autumn, california fires, castle in the clouds, fall, foliage, leaves, new hampshire, travel, trees

We ended up in New Hampshire and Maine this weekend, in part to search for a wedding site and in part to get me my Fall Foliage Fix.

Friday was a very gray day and it threatened to rain most of the morning and afternoon.Castle in the Clouds was gorgeous, especially in the fog and mist. We drove up the winding road quite slowly. The Fop commented that I was driving more tentatively than he thought the road warranted. I explained that I was completely distracted by the gorgeous yellows and oranges and reds on the trees and was simply driving appropriately for my level of concentration, or lack thereof. If I hadn’t been driving, there would be many many photos of the ascent. At the top we met with the events coordinator and got the tour. It’s positively beautiful up there even (or perhaps especially) when the fog limits the visibility from the top. Unfortunately, it’s just too far out of the way for people who aren’t already in New England to be a viable site. We visited an inn earlier in the day that is much more convenient to major highways and Manchester Airport, not to mention accommodations. We’re still undecided, but we’ve thought about it and discussed it more now.

This photo is of a tree behind the Carriage House at Castle in the Clouds.

tags: autumn, castle in the clouds, fall, foliage, leaves, new hampshire, travel, trees