Dear Reader:

Have you ever heard the term ” NOVEMBERISH?”

I don’t recall ever hearing it growing up or since… so when I discovered the term in a story I was reading … my curiosity got the best of me… and I immediately looked it up.

It means “dismal, bleak, dark”… as attributed to the month of November. I immediately thought WHY? In the Lowcountry the first two weeks of November simply seem like an extension of October… perhaps better named … 0CTOBER PART TWO.

We have continued having spring and some summer temps… so even though the leaves are colorful and starting to fall… outside the weather is pleasant overall. ( Had to get rid of that little pesky ( late to the party) tropical system last week but it brought us rain which we really needed!)

But apparently other places, like Scotland, aren’t thrilled with the bleakness and darkness of November. ( Our depressed little Scotsmen-I am 50% Scottish) trace this Anglo-Saxon root word back to blood-letting because it was when the animals were slaughtered for food with the fast approaching winter… on its way. ( For turkeys, sadly, this obviously still runs true.)

The first time the term was seen… was in a piece of prose by that melancholy little poetic Scot-Robert Burns. He wrote: ” Here I sit, altogether Novemberish… a damned melange of fretfulness and melancholy. “

**** Really Bobby…. get a grip… check out the mirror… you are such a cutie… and Father Christmas ( for you) is following behind and will soon be there… remember… he does not like pouters!!!!

I love this transition time… for gardeners we get to stop the daily care of the garden and begin dreaming of what we want to plant in the fall and early spring to produce another serene, soothing, ” Balm of Rainbow Road.” Time to imagine new additions !

So until tomorrow…