just another thursday

we won’t be celebrating thanksgiving here in autignac. in previous visits we have, but this time we are giving ourselves a pass. i am still very tender after my recent bout with La Gastro, so really a big, rich meal wasn’t much of an option. i am sure several of our french friends would have gotten a kick out of eating a traditional american thanksgiving dinner, although last time we were here, we tried to buy a turkey for christmas and were told in no uncertain terms that a turkey was a vastly inferior roasting bird to a capon, and if i must be honest, they were, as in so many questions of gastronomy, correct.

plane tree leaves in november

a specific moment

i know i spend a lot of time on this topic but it is one of my favorite things about STILL blog and its insistent dailiness. it forces me to see the seasons, yes, but then it forces me to see the seasons between the seasons, and the seasons between those seasons in turn. this was a plane tree along a rural highway and in snapshot the tree’s crown was a golden/russet “fall” color, but what this photo shows is that it is actually between mid-fall and late fall. the little spherical seedpods will remain on the tree long after all the leaves have fallen, and then eventually they will burst like a denser version of a dandelion head, and wooly seeds will drift to the ground to be reborn next spring. but the interesting part of the photo is the leaf in the center background, which is bug-damaged and fragile, and about to drop. when all of the leaves drop, it will be a new season within the season. but for now, we are in the season of plane tree seedpods, and deteriorating leaves. and i’m happy to be part of this season for as long as it lasts.

(platanus) plane tree seed pods

gears

i didn’t realize until i looked at this composition on my computer how much it looked like a series of gears. i can say that the only work they did was to generate hunger among my two boys.

saffrom milk cap mushrooms (sanguin, lactaire) (lactarius deliciosus)

mixed herbs

a pinch of late-season herbs to celebrate, first, the fact that they are still growing on an outdoor terrace in late november, and, second, the fact that i ate hungrily today for the first time after five days of stomach flu. back soon to regularly scheduled mary jo.

november herbs from steve’s kitchen garden

la gastro

i’ve spent the last few days on my back. there are actually lots of fun ways to spend time on your back, but being flattened by gastro-enteritis is not one of them. here in france they just call it “la gastro,” and when you say it, everyone knows exactly what you mean, and what you are going through, or have gone through. it’s just sort of a wasting stomach flu, with stomach pain, nausea, chills and sweats, lots of trips to the bathroom, and aches of body, head, and soul. i am on a cocktail of medications from the local pharmacy that have managed to pull me out of yesterday’s hopeless despair, and though I wouldn’t say I’m on the mend exactly, today it did not get worse, which feels like a step toward recovery. See you tomorrow (I hope).

winter wildflower stems