November in Down East Maine is for weather lovers — good and bad and in between weather that seems to enjoy being fickle. This November was no exception. There were crisp, clear days to make us think that we could see forever; hard and soft rainy days to transform the woods into green dreams; fog to do its now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t magic, and weak snows that lightly frosted the fields and then disappeared.
This year, November was warmer and wetter than usual here. The result was fast-running small streams meandering through still-vital mosses and robust larger streams pouring tons of clear, fresh water into the salty sea.
Maine is a place where hunting is a cultural imperative for many; it’s especially a coming-of-age time for youths in our many hunting families. And, November is a special time for those hunters. It’s the peak and last month for hunting white-tailed deer with firearms and the end of the general hunting seasons for wild turkey and black bear. (It’s also the end of moose season, but we see very few moose here on the coast.)
November also is a transformational time here on the Atlantic coast. Many of our fishermen pull up their lobster traps, trailer them to storage, and “hardscape” their vessels until June.
But not all fishermen get off the water during winter. Late November is when some fishing vessels are converted from lobster boats into trawlers to participate in the Atlantic scallop dredging season, which begins during the first week of December. The vessels sprout masts and booms to drag and maneuver the heavy metal and rope dredges and “shelling houses” are constructed aft of the cabins to protect shell schuckers from the sharp winter sea winds. Toward the end of November, the dredges appear like colorful fungi on piers, awaiting transfer to vessels.
By the end of November, most of the leaves have taken their fatal flight and the woods are transformed into largely gray areas pillared with dark green spruce, fir, and pine trees above and populated with clusters of colorful berries and grass heads below. The native winterberry along the roads has been the best in decades this November, as has (unfortunately) the invasive Asian Bittersweet. Silver grass tossing in the wind and red-on-gray Barberry tangles also are uplifting monthly sights.
However, it’s usually our old wild apple trees that are most memorable after their leaves desert them. Some hold onto their rotting fruit until December; others become gnarled residents of the landscape that flaunt their age and defy the elements.
Speaking of trees, this November had one of the best cone cycles in recent years for our spruce trees. Exceptionally large clusters appeared. which old-timers say means a hard winter.
As you have already seen, we have much to be thankful for here and November is the time to express it, as was done by a member of Brooklin’s Fuller family this year with one of the road banners of the late and beloved Judith Fuller:
Finally, November here on the coast is when the breathtaking winter sunsets and their afterglows start. Some of the month’s days may be gray, but many of its nights begin with a spectacular visual overture that becomes a brightly-starred night.
(All images above were taken in Down East Maine. With the exception of the three hunting section images, which were taken here at prior times, all images were taken in November 2019.)