REFLECTIONS ON NOVEMBER

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REFLECTIONS ON NOVEMBERBy Mary Emma AllenNovember comes between the brilliant colors of October and the snowy days of December. It offers a lull between seasons and gives us a chance to prepare for winter. This is the season of cold-looking purple-tinged clouds and lavender-hued mountains after a brilliant sunset. It's also a time of steel gray skies and bitingly chilly air. The frost nips at us in the early morning, and the woodstove in the living room throws out a welcome warmth. We haul wood inside the cellar and check the house to make sure windows are tight. This is the time of year Father took off the window screens, put the storm windows on, and placed hay along the outside of the cellar foundation as insulation. Each season has its magic, its unique characteristics, and November's is the promise of Thanksgiving with Christmas not far away. We begin getting out the holiday recipes and plan for those days when we and children and grandchildren will enjoy cooking favorite recipes. ©2000Mary Emma Allen About the AuthorMary Emma Allen is a columnist, children's writer, and book author. Visit her web site: http://homepage.fcgnetworks.net/jetent/mea; or email her at me.allen