Tuesday, December 4, 2018

November in a Nutshell


I like patterns and rhythms and yes, dare I use the word?  Schedules.

Before assuming responsibility for Mosaic Monday, I was in a weekly posting rhythm, consistently linking to a short list of memes.  I thought I could adapt to a twice-a-week schedule - one for Mosaic Monday, and one to connect with other linky parties.  But I only managed it for one week before life took over.  So I am pretty happy that I can see a path for two posts this week, including one that links up with my old (well, not OLD, but FORMER) meme buddies.  Coincidentally, this is my November summary, and the last time I published two posts in a week was my October wrap-up.  Maybe this is my new pattern?

View from our second floor
ONE: NATURE

My forays outside have been naturally limited by shortened daylight hours.  Also, we have invested those very hours in key projects such as sowing wild grass seed mixed with prairie flower seed.  Nevertheless, I can offer a few outdoor photos.
Upper left and lower right: I have never seen fungi like this
Upper right: Beavers are still active!
Lower left: The low winter sun casts long shadows ...
TWO: NOSHING

Checking the trail cam provides a good motivator for me to lace up my boots and pull on my woolly hat; the pictures above were taken while going to and from the camera location.  We cheated a little bit this month by 'baiting' the trail cam site with our leftover Halloween pumpkins … it's like chocolate to deer, as you will see in some of these photos.
Yes, they are fighting over the pumpkins!
Top: looks like this buck survived hunting season
Lower left: hare lingering under goldenrod just outside our side door
Lower right: coyote moving fast
THREE: NESTLED

As I return across the fields, I can see the warm glow of the lights inside the house.  And I am looking forward to the dinner menu, even if I am head chef!  Somehow, meals are even more satisfying when it's cold outside.  This month, I led the cooking for three meals - close to my goal of cooking once per week.  (The only keeper is the Greek Spinach Rice.)
Steak bites with carrots and mashed potatoes
Greek spinach rice with meatballs
Coconut lime chicken with asparagus
FOUR: NIBBLES

Speaking of cooking, no November summary would be complete without at least a mention of Thanksgiving!  I didn't get many pictures of our dinner, but I have a good excuse - we were occupied hosting 8 folks from our neighborhood.  In the calm before their arrival, I focused on pictures of the table … For those of you celebrating U.S. Thanksgiving, I hope it was a blessed family celebration.  Our gratitude is deep this year, for our home, our children, our family, our neighbors, our health; the list is endless!
What kind of cranberry sauce do you like?  We bought this can for
our neighbor, who claimed it as her favorite (and I like it too!)
Center: Our neighbor made this cake for her son, whose birthday fell
on Thanksgiving.  The 'flames' on the fire were made with melted
Lifesavers.  So clever!

FIVE: NIFTY NEW NOOKS

Of course, Thanksgiving is the entry door to Advent and the glory of the Christmas season.  Ever since our kids were young, Spousal Unit and I have dedicated one day to shopping (it was as much a date as it was playing Santa!!)  In a new twist on our holiday shopping day tradition, Spousal Unit and I enjoyed a one-night stay in Missoula.  We drove 2.5 hours south, and found ourselves in a winter wonderland with a blanket of 4 inches of snow.  The pretty white stuff added to our Christmas spirit as we shopped our way through a mall and then the downtown area.

The "haul" - sometimes we hit the mother lode on these shopping trips - Spousal Unit found three jars of
Branston Pickle (hard to find in small towns in Montana!), HP sauce and Chocolate Digestives!!
All in the same market!
That night, we attended Mass at St. Francis Xavier - I could not take any pictures, obviously, but I pulled one from the Web because the interior of this church, one of the tallest in Montana, is nothing short of spectacular!


Dinner followed at the Iron Horse, and then some dancing at the Union Club.  A fully satisfying day!  (A special shout out to Kit at A Montana Life for her Missoula recommendations!)

The next day, on the way back, every curve brought another amazing view.  If we had any hope of arriving home at a reasonable time, we just couldn't keep stopping.  Sigh.

But even Spousal Unit was amenable to pulling over to absorb this alpenglow over Flathead Lake.  A glorious end to the month and a promise of the wonders that Advent will bring.  Rejoice!

Linking to:

All Seasons

Friday Bliss
Weekly linkup - welcome ❤︎
I Like Thursday

Nature Notes

Our World Tuesday
Our World Tuesday Graphic
Saturday's Critters
Skywatch Friday
Wandering Camera
Wednesday Around the World
Willy Nilly Friday

41 comments:

  1. Lovely photos, Angie. Your November was full of fun and interesting things. I like the idea of a web cam in the woods; you caught some great action there. An overnight getaway to shop sounds like lots of entertainment. Isn't it funny how much we treasure finding things from our homes (wherever that may be) when away from them. I've never eaten Branston Pickle, although I've read a lot about it.

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  2. You've had a wonderful November with lots of fabulous scenes to share with us. I love seeing your scenery and the wild animals that come around and are captured on your web cam. I also love all the other things you did like shopping in Winter wonderland, eating great food, dancing and even hosting a party. Your friend is a very creative with the birthday cake. I love it when I see creativity of any kind. Wishing you a wonderful December.

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  3. I had to giggle at the Branston Pickle, I am a Kiwi but love the stuff and buy it at the local supermarket, It goes into hamburgers I make to! The photos from the web cam are great, good to see the pumpkins enjoyed! The mountains and lake photos are just stunning, such beautiful reflections. Your shopping outing sounded great, that cake looks amazing.

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  4. Hi Angie lovely post ,i have enjoyed reading it,love the drunken people sign,thats a crackup,lol.
    How lovely you got to see the snow,hope you have a wonderful week.

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  5. I love the beautiful scenery, and makes me laugh is the two Deer squabbling over the Pumpkin.

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  6. Hello Angie. I am rather disappointed that I couldn't make it to your Thanksgiving spread. Maybe next time? How amazing that you can buy the Best of British in Montana. Those three icons must be items of curiosity for some of your neighbours used to more mundane goods? Have a good week. I'm hoping for more shots of the coyotes and maybe a soundtrack.

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  7. I enjoyed reading your November summary. Angie Yes, life makes blogging sometimes challenging - but we should live and enjoy each day, shouldn’t we? Wishing you a blessed & happy time of Advent.

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  8. Beautiful post with so many great shots. I didn't know deer loved pumpkin. Crazy about the drunken people crossing sign.

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  9. Hello, Angie, beautiful post and photos. I love the views of the mountains and Flathead Lake. Your food looks delicious. Great captures of the deer with the pumpkins. November flew by! Happy Wednesday, enjoy your day!

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  10. Amazing photos and some darn good yum too!

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  11. Angie ~ delightful post and lovely photos and so varied ~ love them all ^_^

    Happy Day to you,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  12. Those mountain views are incredible. I've seen video footage of moose going for pumpkins, so it doesn't surprise me to see deer do so as well. In the city, we sometimes see squirrels nibbling at the jack o'lanterns.

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  13. Beautiful views of those mountains!

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  14. Your pictures are stunning!!
    I like the jelly kind of cranberry.

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  15. A wonderful series of photos! What a wonderful creative way to top a cake, and I fell over laughing at the 'falling down drunk' sign!

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  16. That's a very full life!
    "Checking the trail cam provides a good motivator for me to lace up my boots and pull on my woolly hat;"
    Me, too!

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  17. I love "Greek spinach rice with meatballs"
    Thank you for so many wonderful photos.

    have a great day

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  18. Hi Angie! Beautiful, beautiful photos that you shared with us. I'm so glad you were able to stop for a moment and enjoy that glorious view. WOW! So peaceful and serene. Happy Happy Thursday to you. ~smile~ Roseanne

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  19. I am trying to get myself on some kind of schedule, but I'm not so good at it. Those pictures on your way back from Missoula are just gorgeous. Looks and sounds like November was a very good month. I can't believe a week of December is already gone. Happy holidays!

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  20. wow, how many hours do you have in one day?? Seems like many. I never seem to get around to create mosaics. :(
    Cool to see your microworld is much like ours. We have the "cupliechens" to. I like them :)

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  21. I'm trying out a twice a week schedule, too. So far, so good. Your close-up photo of the thistles--oh-la-la; it deserves a blue ribbon, Angie.
    I like the canned molded cranberry sauce. That, a bit of turkey, and lots of stuffing, I'm happy. Add gravy, I'm happier, maybe as much as the deer scarfing up the pumpkins.
    :-)

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  22. Mmm..pumpkins are good stuff - I can see why they'd fight over it. That cake looks great. I love the details!

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  23. loved, from the animals eating pumpkin, to the greek spinach rice, to the drunken people crossing! Thanks!

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  24. I love your trail cam pics. Oh heck you always have great pics of everything.

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  25. LOVE THE PHOTOS OF fLATHEAD LAKE! FUNNY I JUST STARTED tUSCAN CHILD BY RHYYS BOWEN.

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  26. You have shared so many photos with lot't of joy in November! I enjoyed those your photos. The cake your neighbor made for her son looks delicious.
    In Nara Park near my house, there are over 200 deer roaming. They are fed deer crackers by tourists and most of them are always full. I hope it is not hard for the deer fighting with pumpkins to survive!
    Happy weekend to you,Angie.

    Sorry I am always a late visitor.

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  27. We have a local store where you can find good (with the emphasis being on good) British pickled onions. Great to eat but you have to take out a second mortgage in the house to buy them!

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  28. Beautiful photos and scenery. I like the images that your cam captures, interesting seeing the deer fight over the pumpkin, definitely a treat for them. The mountains are stunning. Glad you had a nice November because it really flew by. Enjoy your weekend and thanks for sharing a wonderful post.

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  29. ...amazing that you could fit all of that into a nutshell. You are good! Thanks for stopping by, enjoy your weekend.

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  30. I like schedules too :) You are quite ambitious to try two posts per week, I don't think I could manage that. You took some gorgeous outdoor photos. Specially love the one of the low winter sun casting long shadows and the last one. The deer are beautiful! Meals are definitely more satisfying when it's cold outside, specially comfort foods. I am so jealous of you finding yourself in the midst of winter wonderland.

    Thank you so much for linking up this post on Wandering Camera!
    -Soma

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  31. What a lovely month! We used to do that date night/Christmas shopping day too when our kids (and we) were young. Comfort foods do taste best in Fall and Winter (the latter of which we really don’t do these days)...we tried to make the most of November while we were still in Oregon. Thanks for hosting!

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  32. Love the critters you capture on your trail cam. Beautiful photos, and the sky in the last photo is gorgeous!

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  33. Great shots! I have a trail cam but no coyotes, I hope!

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  34. So many fun things, no wonder November flew by.
    Amalia
    xo

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  35. Hello, I love your critter mosaic. The deer, hare and the coyote are all great sightings. November went by with a blink and December is flying by. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend! PS, thanks for the comment on my blog.

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  36. Great to be able to capture the wildlife in the dark.

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  37. Hello. Wonderful photos. You have so beautiful views from your home.

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  38. Beautiful photo array!
    I like cooking more in winter, too.
    (ツ) from Cottage Country Ontario , ON, Canada!

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  39. Wow! Those are views that really deserve pulling over for with your camera in hand! Beautiful. Ocean Spray is my favorite canned cranberry sauce. I've made fresh in the past and then no one eats it so I now I just keep a can of Ocean Spray handy. I enjoyed your recap of November. Hope your second week of December is Merry and Bright!

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  40. Looks like a wonderful November with all the best life has to offer...I am going to get a critter cam for the deck I've decided...Michelle

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