from Tracey G.

There’s not a whole lot I love about November in Michigan, lol. It’s all about Mother Nature getting ready for her Winter Break really.

Leaves are all brown and down, and if it’s a good year they’re also already raked & processed! We usually mow ours up and use them as mulch in the flower beds and some end up back in the compost pile.

It’s also the month we see more “serious” cold temperatures – and maybe an honest-to-goodness bit of snow. Which as pretty as it can be, considering it’s usually still here in April, I’m good with it waiting awhile before it sticks! Call me crazy but I’m also very good with it if it’s not a snowy Holiday Season! By mid-to-late February you’re really getting over the novelty of it for sure…

It’s always a bit of “fun” (yep, sarcasm there) to drive in that first bit of wintery weather as well – your skills are a bit rusty, but it’s not long before you get your “snow driving legs” back, lol. Then you resign yourself to knowing, that, for the next few months you will be cleaning snow off your car (unless you can actually use your garage as it’s meant to be used – unlike us) and warming it up every morning.

And that’s what November brings here in Northern Lower Michigan – it’s definitely a transition month for Mother Nature!!!

from Kris B.

Other than in summer when it is guaranteed to be brutally hot, weather in Texas is unpredictable, especially at this time of year when the seasons are supposed to be changing.  This week, our temperatures have been in the mid to high 70s.  It has been glorious.  But, on Monday, temperatures are supposed to dip below freezing.  This kind of up and down confuses all living things – plants and humans!  

Our oak trees have dropped almost all of their leaves, creating a blanket of brown in the yard and on the patio.  The barren trees look like winter is not far off, but because of the warm temperatures, other plants have not made such preparations.  My gerbera daisies decided to bloom again.  I love seeing their bright orange faces pop up out of the brown!

Even when it does get cold, our cold and winter are nothing like what Tracey experiences.  We do have snow every now and then, but the more likely winter offender is ice…lots of it.  Texas ice storms are ugly.  Pick-up trucks sliding around on multi-level highway interchanges is scary for everyone!

This year, my city is trying something new; they are creating an outdoor ice rink.  Seriously?  With these warm temperatures, people are going to be skating in their shorts and tank tops.  And who knows what it will take to keep that rink from being a great big slushy mess!  It is supposed to open tonight.  I am curious to see how that all works.  Stay tuned for an update!

Other than that, things in Texas are probably much like life everywhere else – holiday lights, frantic shoppers, and people hoping for no ice storms to complicate their holiday preparations!

Happy almost December, everyone!