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The Artist’s
Almanac
November 2004
download and print this installment as
a PDF
(you will need Adobe Acrobat reader to open this file, you can
get
it here free)
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no
healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, -
November!
Thomas Hood – English Poet, 1844
In the ancient Roman
calendar November is ninth among the months. The earth has labored
and delivered forth her bounty, which is now in our barns, pantries
or memories. Now she deserves her silence and rest.
A few golden maple
leaves hang as tattered reminders of life’s cycle, until the rain
and winds take them down to sodden mulch. We seek the last roses for
a cherished place at table. Turnip greens transform the first frost
into their chastening bounty for our fall tables.
The gray woods fall
silent and open themselves to long views and meditative afternoon
walks with the dog. Creeks weave their sinuous silver way through
the landscape enlivening the valleys with the murmur of their falls.
November is a time for
reflection – a time for taking inventory of ourselves and for
summing up. We all need a fallow time - a time not to be pregnant -
a time to be thankful, and to rest.
In Tennessee we have
much to be thankful for – a year of ample rain, a cooler summer, an
abundant fall. Perhaps if the poet Hood had lived in America rather
than England he would have enjoyed a sunnier view of November.
The Romans also had a
holiday which has now all but disappeared – All Saints Day on
November 1st. Saints is but another word for our family,
those whom we love and respect and who gave us who we are, or could
be.
The only satisfying
response to all the bounty we are given is to give thanks. That’s
what the artist attempts to do in his work – to pass the blessings
downstream to others and to reflect the light.
That is why we in
America seek out those we love this month – to acknowledge and to
give thanks for that which we are given and to share it with each
other.
It is my favorite
Holiday! And it redeems November.
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