Good Morning, Friends!

It's a happy morning! I got a pomegranate at the grocery, and it snuggles well into my old bowl of cedarwood potpourri in the dining room.

November is the time to pull out the fuzzy socks.

See those sweet potatoes hiding back there? And the jars of spiced apple sauce?

The hosta seed pods are dry and ready to drop into the soil.

Their leaves are yellow and green.

But this fern is still happy, late in the year.

We have many crepe myrtle trees here. They give some of our best autumn color foliage.

And silvery lichen on the pale pink bark ~

More pink ~ the sunrise recently over stripped farm fields.

And from our porch, now wreathed in winter plastic ~

This morning while Adam makes pumpkin scones in the kitchen for our church's Christmas shoebox-packing party tonight, I'm in my "creative corner." He enjoys encouraging my creativity ~ what a blessing that is! My candle is burning, sandalwood incense is wafting, John Rutter's happy Christmas music is lifting my spirits, my sweet niece Lorien's picture is peeking at me through the aloe plant, and I've enjoyed visiting Susan Branch this morning.

Susan's first November blog post is delightful, chock-full of comforting recipes and photos of fall delights. Click on over! Now I'll read her "Hygge for the Holidays" post, an old one.

Susan showed a photo of the recipe above, Scalloped Potatoes with Sausages. Wow! It looks so yummy. She said it's in her Vineyard Seasons cookbook. Guess what?! That's one of the books I own! I looked up the recipe (above), and made a bookmark just for this book. 'Tis the time of year for "hygge" -- comfort, friends, warmth, hot beverages, happiness, love, cool-weather activities. 
And now, in smaller print and without photos, I wish to say that we bloggers, although we want to spread beauty and happiness around, do not have lives that are all as tidy and clean as a TV set kitchen :) We have troubles and heartaches like everyone, and our lives are slowly falling apart too, or as Susan Branch said today, we need beauty "to sooth our ravaged souls." Adam just told me that he put a tablespoon of salt into his flour for the scones, instead of baking powder, so he had to start over. We expect rain today, and we'll see if our patchy roof repair actually stops the leaks in our living room ceiling ... because the ceiling has black mold growing on it and Adam wants to repair and replace it, before company comes at Thanksgiving. One of our cars has windshield wipers that don't work, and the other one has an A/C leak that keeps the floor wet and moldy. I keep Lorien's sweet smile around me all day and remember her repeatedly because she died a tragic, sad, early death, and I want her brief life remembered and celebrated. We have lonely, needy people in our church and community. Adam volunteers for the Red Cross and for the Opioid Addiction Help Group because our world is full of tragedy and addiction.
All that to say ~ we bloggers try to keep our online parlors happy and beautiful not because our lives don't have messies too, but precisely because they do. In the midst of the messies, we stand on our soap boxes blog posts and proclaim: "Life is still wonderful, and you can choose to grasp hold of the beautiful too, if not today, then tomorrow!" Some of my friends are going through such hard times right now ~ take heart! One thing about life is certain: it will change. Hard times pass. God loves you dearly, through it all.
Blessings, friends! May you find beauty around you today, and may it lift your hearts.

Snuggling into Hyggishness

Dear PomPom is reading a book on "hygge," a Danish word that means: "a framework to support our very human needs, desires and habits.  There is a simple, material structure beneath the immaterial rewards.  To learn to hygge is to take practical steps to evoke it - to shelter, cluster, enclose, embrace, comfort and warm ourselves and each other.  Cultivating the habits of balance, moderation, care and observance will then comfortably ensure more hygge in our daily lives." That's a definition from a book PomPom is reading now. When temperatures finally dip below hotter-than-you-know-where and I begin thinking of sweaters and candles and yarn, it's time for hygge. When the air conditioner is turned off and windows are opened, it's time for hygge. When fuzzy socks feel good again and I drift over to Pinterest for photos of autumn leaves, it's time for hygge.
I bought two 3-wick candles at Bath and Body Works. They're usually $22 each. They were on sale for $12.50, and I had a buy-one-get-one-free coupon. Oh yeah! Two of these beauties for $12.50!

I finished off the first one, "Pumpkin Woods," (see the green wax I dug out of the bottom in the photo above). I'll drop those chunks into the second candle, "Chestnut & Clove," as it burns along. Their candle jars are so nice these days. I washed the first jar and will keep stuff in it. The lid has a plastic seal:

 

I opted to store some long seashell necklaces in mine.

 

The next candle in line will be a scented mason jar from my sister-in-law.
Another warming indicator of autumn is the racket of geese flying in formation overhead. I heard them this morning after tending to my chickens. They didn't fly right overhead as they sometimes do, but I captured their call (and Ned's answering halloo) on my phone video.

  A few days ago Adam prepared steel-cut oatmeal for breakfast, the night before, with dry cranberries. Yummy, comforting, and warm.

I can't quite claim to have arrived at sweater weather yet, but I did weave this morning to the comforting sounds of Handel's "Messiah." Christmas is hyggish to me.
I'm wondering if true Danish hygge actually works in the American Southland. "To shelter, cluster, enclose, embrace, comfort and warm ourselves and each other" is a noble, sensible ambition in that frigid peninsula jutting into the North Sea and mere inches from Norway. In the sweltering South we often say to each other, "Don't touch me; you're too sweaty." These words do not promote much hygge.
The link on the top line above lists 9 things to do to accomplish hygge in your life:
1. Buy candles
2. Make pastries
3. Cycle everywhere
4. Start dropping the word "hygge" into everyday conversation
5. Don't stay late after work
6. Take lunch at 11:00 AM
7. Make porridge
8. Wear black (ladies)
9. Dress for the weather

Okay, some of those are just silly. Ride bicycles? In winter? But I can get into candlelight, pastries, early lunch, warm oatmeal, and cozy sweaters. Yes, please.

Hygge reading!

Mr. Badger Finds Hygge

My Dear Mole,
How I do miss our friendly chats and occasional visits. A calm friend is a true comfort, and such are you, Mole. I came on these travels to find if other creatures are slipper-wearing, tea-sipping, fireplace-gazing, afternoon-napping lovers of leisure as we are. And yes, in each home, I've found some good old-fashioned hygge.
My hostess is a yarn lady. I helped her with a little crocheting, a little tea, and some couch-sitting.

I'm not sure about those fox-like fuzzy socks she's wearing. They growled at me, and I growled back. She's reading about an Irishman! Mr. Lewis's gripping account of Trufflehunter and the other badgers of Narnia has long been one of my favorite winter reads.

She offered me popcorn, which I'd never tried before. It's crunchy and salty, but otherwise is inferior to a good old English breakfast.

My hostess tried to encourage her canine and me to become chums, but so far this has not occurred. He is a soft and nervous creature, and the only thing I can say in his favor is that he does seem to wear slippers on his paws. His fur protrudes over his claws in the most amusing manner.

Regarding the creature's paws, my hostess keeps alluding to someone named Dr. Seuss.

Mole, my dear fellow, I do not know what the next adventure will be. I often overheard talk about going to a place called Greenhouse. More news from the colonies will be forthcoming.

Affectionately,
Badger