In November, we signed the lease on a new apartment in Gloucester.

We were excited because it had (1) more space and (2) fewer neighbors that required us to (a) call the police, (b) hide under the bed in fear, (c) invest our life savings in earplugs.

I asked Erik to take “before” pictures. They all look like this:

I should have supervised.

We couldn’t move in for a month, so we busied ourselves with our typical schedule of local exploration (in the 5 minutes per week not occupied by our jobs or commute).

We discovered and fell in love with the Manchester-Essex Conservation Area:

I also discovered that the little patch of arugula I had planted on the side of our building in April suddenly decided to grow. Yes, in November. After the frost! I don’t get it, either.

I made a salad. Erik didn’t want to eat it because he thought it had probably been infused with too much dog poop. But I convinced him, and he agreed it was delicious. It was nice of that little arugula patch to produce before we moved.

We also went on a cemetery hunt.

I see this gorgeous old cemetery every day from the commuter rail, but I could never quite figure out exactly how to reach it on foot.

Problem solved!

The cemetery is so old that this huge tree grew around the stone:

Can you spot the Erik?

The month ended with some turkey gymnastics. I was certainly not prepared for the logistical challenges when my hero scored us a giant turkey from the farm at the last minute.

The end result, however, was a glorious Thanksgiving turkey raised by my farmer. Sadly, I have no photographic evidence. Just know, it was worth all of the maneuvering, creative transportation, and extreme refrigeration measures taken.

Sigh, November was beautiful.