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A Tribute to November
“The gloomy months of November, when the people of England hang and drown themselves.”
- Joseph Addison 1672 1719
I walked with my dog around the point on the lake near our house. The wind blew chill across the water and raised the ears of the small beast so that it appeared he might fly like Dumbo. Clouds scudded above the naked trees racing over the water to dump snow on the wretches who lived on the other shore. There are benefits to being on the lee shore when it comes to snow but it doesn’t change the reality that is November.
The beauty of the leaves has gone. They have become piles of soggy brown remnants at the edge of the road and covering lawns, the fall flowers are wilted and nipped by frost, there is the gloom of death at every turn. Winter, when it comes, brings a coat of bright white snow and spring will follow but it is still in the future. When the solstice has passed the days will lengthen but for now the dark is pervading and deepening.
I searched Google for poems and thoughts about November. There are many and the majority speak of gloom, loss, cold, dark and the end of life. A few reflect the harvest and Thanksgiving but for most of us those events were celebrated in October which still retained some of summer’s warmth. The Great War ended in November1918. I suspect the generals and the monarchs on both sides could not stomach the thought of more war in the cold mud and decided to call it quits. That had to be a plus for the gloom but nonetheless it seems that November is when many souls give up the struggle and seek the solace of death. It may be an impression, I don’t have any statistics.
Lake Ontario is a huge body of water with many moods. It can show a benign face or a cruel face and like her sister lakes has been savage in the winds of November. It was November 1975 when Lake Superior took the giant Edmund Fitzgerald and her crew. More devastating to sailors on the lakes was the November storm of 1913 that claimed the pride of the Great Lakes fleet. More than sixty ships and 248 sailors were lost that November but through the years November has taken many ships. Again, in early November 1918 two minesweepers, newly built for the French navy, left the shipyard at then Fort William on Lake Superior. They were never seen again.
“The name ‘November’ is believed to derive from ‘novem’ which is the Latin for the number ‘nine’. In the ancient Roman calendar November was the ninth month after March. As part of the seasonal calendar November is the time of the ‘Snow Moon’ according to Pagan beliefs and the period described as the ‘Moon of the Falling Leaves’
by Black Elk.”
- Mystical WWW
The piece above refers to the November moon as the Snow Moon. It was also called the same in medieval times and if you look the November moon seems cold and unwelcoming. Last night it was waning, about three quarters full, and glowed like a pale lantern diffused through a thin layer of clouds. It is a sorrowful light in the city sky where stars do not shine, a beacon to souls now departing. There could not have been even a pale beacon for the ships in November 1913.
“November always seemed to me the Norway of the year.”
- Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson speaks of November as the Norway of the year. She must have had a bad experience in Norway to think of it as November. I once visited Norway, it was winter, maybe November, and the sky was gloomy like here. Should we amend her statement to “November always seems to me the Canada of the year?” If one thinks of the years when Emily Dickenson lived (1830-1886) and then of the pioneers settling Canada then November must have been very much a down time. Presumably the harvest would have been in, the wood stacked and drying, the carcasses of deer and moose hung or smoked for the winter and quite possibly it was too busy for the people to think about it. On the other hand, summer babies would result from the short days and long nights of November. On that positive note I’ll end this tribute to November with this lament by an unidentified sufferer.
‘No sun - no moon!
No morn - no noon
No dawn - no dusk - no proper time of day.
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!’
Mystical WWW
A Lotus Blossom in a Box
This is the last chapter of our story.
It’s your chance to say goodbye to Kim, the Solways and all the characters who made the story.
You can catch up with missed chapters by clicking on http://www.isoman.com/The Story.htm. We’ll post all the chapters there as we go. ENJOY A Lotus Blossom in a Box.
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The Thanksgiving Weekend was a sequence of beautiful sunny days and gorgeous fall leaves. The above image was made near the intersection of two principal streets in Mississauga. There was no need to drive far to find beauty in nature.
The story of our train trip across Canada is still posted. See the images.
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Please click on the several stories listed on this page. (http://www.isoman.com/story titles.htm).
Here’s the photo I took from the Dome Car on the train.
I posted a story about a first love. Curious? Click here.
What is the ISO Man in the address of this page? A few years ago I was deeply involved in the ISO 9001 and related activities. I reserved the name isoman.com in the mid 1990’s and have kept it ever since as my internet address. So now you know.
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