Winter arrived early in Central Texas. I feel like we skipped over autumn this year which is disappointing considering I love autumn. I’m trying to move into the winter season with an openness to experience winter’s coziness, an opportunity for renewal, quiet reflection, and making time for slower activities.

This week I read an article called How to Transform the Way You Experience Winter which had me thinking about how I feel about moving into the winter season. I love the changing seasons, but the busy holidays are not something I look forward to most years. I would rather spend the holidays with some warm soup, a cracking fire, a steaming cup of chai, a good book or puzzle, and downtime with my family.

As we prepare for winter, we have moved our tender plants into our small pop-up greenhouse. Cotton covers blanket the metal toppers for our raised planters, and I’m harvesting the few remaining cherry tomatoes left on the vine before we get our first freeze. I’m refilling the humidifiers and our basket of bubble bath and Epsom salts, browsing through soup recipes, and curating my list of books for the season as well as movies and shows to watch on chilly nights to get me through the long evenings ahead.

Spending time in nature during the daylight hours, whether on a hike or gardening, is how I fill up before getting cozy in the evenings. This week’s video is a montage of my visit to Texas Book Fest, a peek into our fall garden, harvesting tomatillo and ground cherry seeds, a look at how we’re keeping decorations minimal and natural around the house this year, and a hike along the greenbelt. I hope this video brings you a sense of calm as we move into the holiday season.

Music featured in this season’s video is Coastal Romantique by Trevor Kowalski and Shelter From the Storm by Amaranth Cove, available on Epidemic Sound. The picture book featured in the video is Thankful by Elaine Vickers.

Book Recommendations

“With no land to light on, they look back without nostalgia and look forward with a frayed hope.”

-Michael Ondaatje

After finishing The Arsonists’ City by Hala Alyan, I decided I would continue to immerse myself in the stories of immigrants and refugees for the rest of November. I’m sharing a collection of books below that follow the experiences of immigrants and refugees who leave their home countries and families (often ravaged by war) to start over in countries that are often hostile to immigrants and refugees. Ultimately these books are about family, found family, love, traditions lost, trauma, struggling to find belonging, and new beginnings that will always be infused with feeling homesick for a place that will never be the same.

When you are forced off your land, as the Native Americans were in the United States, the experience can feel like one of being a refugee on your land. I’m sharing a booklist of favorites and those I look forward to reading to help us all understand the lived experience of many Native Americans in the United States more fully.

Currently listening to: The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson and Where the Children Take Us by Zain E. Asher on Libro.fm

What’s my simple joy this week? I’ve tried many ways to clean our shower glass over the years, but over the past few weeks, I used a glass cooktop cleaner sponge to clean off soap residue, and it works! A small thing to mention, I know, but isn’t it always the little things that make our day?

I’d love to hear about your simple joys in life right now and what you’d like to see in future blog posts. Please share in the comments below this post.

I read once that if there is something that you want to do, but you're not sure how to get there, just begin.

Writing blog posts for 52 Seasons is a creative journey into the expressions that come from my heart: writing, photography, tending a garden, immersing myself in nature, reading stories from voices that need to be heard and sharing them with others, keeping a home, being an advocate and supporter of education and basic human rights, and sharing resources with others.

Get involved in your community. VOTE. Speak out. Volunteer. One small action can create momentum for change.