Welcoming November

Dear Diary,

This is the last in my monthly window banners.  I started last December posting them.  The colors reflect quite accurately the tones in the landscape right now which are rusting and muting and falling away.

Today is All Saint's Day and the feast of Samhain.  It begins a month of remembrance and gratitude.  It is a time to honor those of your family who have gone before, either recently or centuries ago.  They are all part of what Jung calls your collective unconscious; the slender thread that connects you all.  In Celtic beliefs it is a "thin time" when the veil between the living and the dead is especially permeable.

I love Brother Cadfael's message, that November "...brings the world and man back to the dimness and mystery in which it began."  It is that kind of month for me.  So much of life is a mystery.  Even with our scientific arrogance, we really know so little.  It is a time to embrace that mystery and dispense with the arrogance.

ps.  I just had to had three extra photographs today of the dogs at my local hardware store dressed in their Halloween costumes.  They belong to the owners of the store and hang out each day on their special red leather sofas.